LltTLE  COLONEL'S 


THE  LITTLE  COLONEL'S   KNIGHT 
COMES    RIDING 


Works  of 
ANNIE  FELLOWS  JOHNSTON 


The  Little  Colonel  Series 

(.Trade  Mark,  Reg.  U.  S.  Pat.  Of.) 
Each  one  vol.,  large  12mo,  cloth,   illustrated 

The   Little   Colonel   Stories      .  .  .  . 

(Containing    in    one    volume     the    three     stories 
"  The    Little    Colonel,"    "  The    Giant    Scissors 
and  "  Two  Little  Knights  of  Kentucky.") 

The  Little  Colonel's  House  Party  . 

The  Little  Colonel's  Holidays 

The  Little  Colonel's  Hero        .  .  . 

The  Little  Colonel  at  Boarding-School     . 

The  Little  Colonel  in  Arizona  .     _     . 

The  Little  Colonel's  Christmas    Vacation 

The  Little  Colonel:  Maid  of  Honor 

The  Little  Colonel's  Knight  Comes    Riding 

The  Little  Colonel's  Chum:    Mary   Ware 

Mary  Ware    in   Texas      ..... 

Mary  Ware's   Promised   Land 

The  above  12  vols.,  boxed,  as  a  set 

The  Little  Colonel  Good  Times  Book      . 
The  Little  Colonel  Doll  Book — First    Series    . 
The  Little  Colonel  Doll  Book — Second    Series 

Illustrated  Holiday  Edition 

The  Little  Colonel  Stories        ..... 
(With  16  plates  in  full  color,  and  many  marginal 
cuts  in  tints.) 

Cosy  Corner  Series 
Each  one  vol.,  thin  12mo,  cloth,  illustrated 
The   Little    Colonel 
The  Giant  Scissors 
Two  Little  Knights  of  Kentucky 
Big  Brother     .... 
Ole  Mammy's  Torment   . 
The  Story  of  Dago 
Cicely      ..... 
Aunt  'Liza's  Hero 
The  Quilt  that  Jack  Built 
Flip's  "  Islands  of  Providence  " 
Mildred's    Inheritance 
The  Little  Man  in  Motley 

Other  Books 

The  Story  of  the  Red  Cross    .  e 

Joel:    A  Boy  of  Galilee    .  .  . 

The  Road  of  the  Loving  Heart  . 

In  the  Desert  of  Waiting 
The   Three   Weavers 
Keeping  Tryst  .... 

The  Legend  of  the  Bleeding  Heart 
The  Rescue  of  the  Princess  Winsome 
The  Jester's   Sword  .  . 

Asa   Holmes  .... 

Travelers  Five  Along  Life's  Highway 


$1.90 


$1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 
1.90 

22.80 


$2.50 
1.90 
1.90 


$2.50 


$1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 


$1.25 

1.90 

1.25 

.75 

.75 

.75 

.75 

.75 

.75 

1.25 

1.25 


THE    PAGE    COMPANY 
53  Beacon  Street  Boston,  Mass. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/littlecolonelsknjohn 


"WITH    THE    DONNING    OF   THE    ANCIENT   DRESS    SHE 
SEEMED  TO  HAVE   PUT  ON    THE  SWEET    SHY  MAN- 
NER THAT  HAD  BEEN  THE  CHARM    OF    ITS  FIRST 
WEARER."  {See  page  142) 


THE   LITTLE   COLONEL'S 
KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 


BY 

ANNIE    FELLOWS    JOHNSTON 

AUTHOR   OF 

"THE  LITTLE   COLONEL   SERIES,"   "BIG  BROTHER,** 

"OLE   MAMMY'S  TORMENT,"   "JOEL:  A  BOY 

OF  GALILEE,"  "ASA   HOLMES,"   ETC. 

Ellustratrti  frg 
ETHELDRED  B.  BARRY 


And  sometimes  in  the  mirror  blue, 
The  knights  come  riding,  two  by  two.n 

Thb  Lady  of  Shalqt£; 


BOSTON 

THE  PAGE   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1907 
By  The  Page  Company 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 

All  rights  reserved 


Made  in  U.S.A. 


Fifteenth  Impression,  June.  1925 

Sixteenth  Impression,  February,   1926 


PRINTED  BY  C.  H.  SIMONDS  COMPANY 
BOSTON,  MASS.,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 


I.  The  Hanging  of  the  Mirror 

II.  Bed -time  Confidences 

III.  A  Knight  Comes  Riding 

IV.  Betty's  Novel     . 
V.  A  Camera  Helps 

VI.  "Garden  Fancies w 

VII.  Spanish  Lessons  . 

VIII.  "Shadows  of  the  World  Appear" 

IX.  More  Shadows     .... 

X.  By  the   Silver  Yard -stick 

XI.  The  End  of  Several  Things    . 

XII.  Six  Months  Later 

XIII.  The  Miracle  of  Blossoming     . 

XIV.  The  Royal  Mantle    . 
XV.  "  As  It  Was  written  in  the  Stars  "  and 

Betty's  Diary        ■        •        ■        •        • 


i 
27 
46 
68 

97 
116 

134 
161 
181 
199 
221 
242 
266 
285 

3C8 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

"  With  the  donning  of  the  ancient  dress  she 
seemed  to  have  put  on  the  sweet  shy  man- 
ner that  had  been  the  charm  of  its  first 
wearer"     (See  page  142)        .         .         .        Frontispiece 

"  the    other   grasped    some   dark    object    that 

seemed  to  be  a  picture  frame  "     .         .        .        6 

"  Drew    rein   a   moment   at   the   gate,   to   look 

down  the  stately  avenue  '  .        .        •      47 

"  he    was    bending    anxiously   over   a  bubbling 

saucepan  " 87 

"Making  a  cup  of  her  white  hands".        .         .     126 

"  For  once  the  red  and  green  bird  was  on  its 

good  behaviour" 180 

"  She  poured  the  corn  into  the  popper  and  be- 
gan to  shake  it  over  the  red  coals"  .        .261 

"'  She  looked  to  me  just  like  one  of  her  own 

lilies'"         .        . 315 


THE 

LITTLE    COLONEL'S    KNIGHT 

COMES   RIDING 


CHAPTER    I 

THE    HANGING   OF   THE    MIRROR 

It  was  a  June  morning  in  Kentucky.  The  doc- 
tor's nephew  coming  at  a  gallop  down  the  pike  into 
Lloydsboro  Valley,  reined  his  horse  to  a  walk  as 
he  reached  the  railroad  crossing,  and  leaning  for- 
ward in  his  saddle,  hesitated  a  moment  between  the 
two  roads. 

The  one  along  the  railroad  embankment  was 
sweet  with  a  tangle  of  wild  honeysuckle,  and  led 
straight  to  the  little  post-office  where  his  morning 
mail  awaited  him.  The  other  would  take  him  a 
mile  out  of  his  way,  but  it  was  through  a  thick 
beech  woods,  and  the  cool  leafage  of  its  green 
aisles  tempted  him.     A  red-bird  darting  on  ahead 

s 


2        LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

suddenly  decided  his  course,  for  following  some 
quick  impulse,  as  if  the  cardinal  wings  had  beckoned 
him,  he  turned  off  the  highway  into  the  woods. 

"  I  might  as  well  go  around  and  have  a  look  at 
that  Lindsey  Cabin/'  he  said  to  himself,  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  turning  aside.  "  If  it's  in  as  good  shape 
as  I  think  it  is,  maybe  I  can  persuade  the  Van 
Aliens  to  rent  it  for  the  summer.  It's  a  pity  to 
have  a  picturesque  place  like  that  standing  empty 
when  it  has  such  possibilities  for  hospitality,  and 
the  Van  Allen  girls  a  positive  genius  for  giving 
jolly  house-parties.  To  get  that  family  out  to 
Lloydsboro  for  the  summer  would  be  paving  the 
way  to  no  end  of  good  times." 

The  farther  he  rode  into  the  cool  woods  the 
better  the  idea  pleased  him,  and  where  the  bridle- 
path crossed  a  narrow  creek  he  paused  a  moment 
before  plunging  down  the  bank.  Somewhere  up  the 
ravine  a  spring  was  trickling  out  in  a  ceaseless  flow. 
He  could  not  see  it,  but  he  could  hear  the  gurgle 
of  the  water,  as  cold  and  crystal  clear  it  splashed 
down  into  its  rocky  basin. 

"  They  could  picnic  here  to  their  hearts'  con- 
tent," he  said  aloud,  glancing  up  and  down  the 
ravine  at  the  rank  growth  of  fern  and  maidenhair 
which  festooned  the  rocks. 


THE  HANGING   OF   THE  MIRROR  3 

Alex  Shelby  had  spent  only  part  of  two  summers 
in  Lloydsboro  Valley,  but  the  woodsy  smell  of  mint 
and  pennyroyal,  mingling  with  the  fern,  brought 
back  the  recollection  of  at  least  a  dozen  picnics  he 
had  enjoyed  near  this  spot,  most  of  them  moon- 
light affairs,  and  all  of  them  so  pleasant  that  he  was 
determined  to  bring  about  their  repetition  if  possi- 
ble. Of  course  this  summer  he  would  not  have  as 
much  time  for  outings  as  he  had  had  then.  Now 
that  he  had  finished  his  medical  course  he  intended 
to  shoulder  as  much  as  possible  of  his  uncle's  work. 
The  old  doctor's  practice  had  grown  far  too  heavy 
tor  him.  But  at  the  same  time  there  need  be  no 
limit  to  the  pleasant  things  that  the  summer  could 
bring  forth,  especially  if  the  Van  Allen  family  could 
be  installed  in  the  Lindsey  Cabin. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  more  brought  him  almost  to 
the  edge  of  the  woods  and  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Lindsey  place.  The  spacious,  two-story  log  cabin 
standing  back  among  the  great  forest  trees,  might 
have  been  a  relic  of  Daniel  Boone's  day,  so  care- 
fully had  his  pioneer  pattern  been  copied  by  skilful 
architects.  But  the  resemblance  was  only  outward. 
Inside  it  was  luxuriously  equipped  with  every  mod- 
ern convenience.  For  a  year  it  had  stood  tenant- 
less,  and  Alex  Shelby  never  passed  it  without  re- 


4        LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

gretting  that  such  a  charming  old  place  should  be 
abandoned  to  dust  and  spiders.  The  last  time  he 
had  gone  by  it,  he  had  noticed  that  it  was  beginning 
to  show  the  effect  of  its  long  neglect.  Some  of  the 
windows  were  completely  overgrown  by  ragged 
rose-vines  and  Virginia  Creeper,  and  a  tin  water- 
spout that  had  blown  loose  from  its  fastenings, 
dangled  from  the  eaves. 

Now  as  he  came  near  he  saw  in  surprise  that 
the  place  seemed  to  have  an  alert,  live  air,  as  if  just 
awakened  from  sleep.  The  windows  were  all 
thrown  open,  the  vines  were  trimmed,  and  were  a 
mass  of  bloom,  the  dead  leaves  were  raked  neatly 
in  piles  and  the  cobwebs  no  longer  hung  from  the 
cornices  in  dusty  festoons. 

A  long  ladder  leaning  against  the  front  of  the 
house,  rested  on  the  sill  of  an  upper  window,  and 
Alex  wondered  if  the  agents  had  painters  at  work. 
He  hoped  so.  The  more  thorough  the  renovation, 
the  more  attractive  it  would  be  to  the  Van  Aliens. 

Suddenly  his  pleased  expression  changed  to  one 
of  surprise  and  dismay,  as  he  saw  that  the  place 
was  already  inhabited.  Empty  packing-boxes,  ex- 
celsior and  wrapping  paper  littered  the  front  porch. 
A  new  hammock  hung  between  the  posts.  Some- 
body's garden-hat  lay  on  the  steps.     Moreover,  a 


THE  HANGING   OF   THE  MIRROR  5 

slender  girl  in  a  white  dress  stood  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder,  evidently  about  to  ascend,  for  she  shook  it 
to  test  its  balance,  and  then  cautiously  stepped  up 
on  the  first  round. 

Her  back  was  toward  Alex,  and  he  fervently 
hoped  that  she  would  turn  around  so  that  he  might 
see  her  face,  then  more  fervently  hoped  that  she 
wouldn't,  since  it  would  be  somewhat  embarrassing 
to  be  caught  staring  as  inquisitively  as  he  was  do- 
ing. Unconsciously  at  sight  of  her  he  had  brought 
his  horse  to  a  standstill,  and  now  sat  wondering 
who  she  could  be  and  what  she  was  about  to  do. 
It  was  as  if  a  curtain  had  gone  up  on  the  first  scene 
of  an  intensely  interesting  play,  and  for  the  moment 
he  forgot  everything  else  in  admiration  of  the  stage 
setting,  and  the  graceful  little  figure  poised  on  the 
ladder. 

"  Probably  going  up  for  an  armful  of  roses,"  he 
thought. 

"Hold  tight,  Ca'line  Allison!  Don't  let  it 
slip !  "  she  called  in  a  high  sweet  voice,  almost  as 
if  she  were  singing  the  words,  and  Alex  noticed  for 
the  first  time,  a  small  coloured  girl  behind  the  lad- 
der, bracing  herself  against  it  to  hold  it  steady. 

The  ascent  was  a  slow  one.  Twice  she  tripped 
on  her  skirts,  and  with  a  little  shriek  almost  slipped 


6        LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  'COMES  RIDING 

through  between  the  rounds.  Only  one  hand  was 
free  for  climbing.  The  other  grasped  some  dark 
object  that  seemed  to  be  a  picture  frame,  though 
why  one  should  be  carrying  a  picture  frame  up  the 
outside  of  a  house  was  more  than  the  young  man 
could  imagine,  and  he  concluded  he  must  be  mis- 
taken. 

The  last  step  brought  her  head  on  a  level  with 
the  second  story  window,  and  up  where  the  sun 
struck  through  the  trees  in  a  broad  shaft  of  light. 
Her  hair  had  been  beautiful  in  the  shadow;  a  rare 
tint  of  auburn  with  bronze  gold  glints,  but  now  in 
the  sunshine  it  was  an  aureole.  What  was  it  it 
reminded  him  of?  A  fragment  of  a  half -forgotten 
poem  came  to  his  mind,  although  he  was  not  given 
to  remembering  such  things : 

"  Sandalphon  the  angel  of  glory, 
Sandalphon  the  angel  of  prayer." 

Then  he  almost  laughed  aloud  at  the  compari- 
son, for  a  dazzling  flash  of  light,  blinding  him  for 
an  instant,  was  reflected  into  his  eyes  from  the  ob- 
ject she  carried,  and  he  saw  that  it  was  a  looking- 
glass  that  she  was  taking  up  the  ladder  with  such 
care. 

'■'  What  a  very  human  and  very  feminine  angel 


/\Vtt. 


THE    OTHER    GRASPED    SOME    DARK    OBJECT   THAT 
SEEMED    TO  BE    A    PICTURE    FRAME." 


THE  HANGING   OF   THE  MIRROR  7 

of  glory  it  is,"  he  thought.  But  the  next  instant, 
still  with  the  amused  smile  on  his  face,  he  was  spur- 
ring his  horse  down  the  road  as  fast  as  it  could 
gallop.  The  girl  on  the  ladder  had  caught  sight 
of  his  reflection  in  the  mirror  as  she  reached  up  to 
lay  it  on  the  window  sill,  and  had  turned  a  startled 
face  towards  him.  Not  for  worlds  would  he  have 
had  her  know  that  he  had  been  so  discourteous  as 
to  sit  staring  at  her.  He  had  forgotten  himself  in 
the  interest  of  the  moment. 

Eager  to  find  out  who  the  new  tenants  were  at 
the  Lindsey  Cabin,  he  rode  rapidly  on,  turning  from 
the  woodland  road  into  a  maple-lined  avenue  lead- 
ing back  to  the  post-office.  Just  as  he  made  the  turn 
another  surprise  confronted  him.  He  almost  col- 
lided with  two  girls  who  were  hurrying  along  arm 
in  arm,  under  a  red  parasol. 

Both  Lloyd  Sherman  and  Kitty  Walton  were 
old  friends  of  his,  but  he  had  to  look  twice  to  assure 
himself  that  he  saw  aright.  They  had  been  away 
at  school  all  year,  and  he  had  not  heard  of  their 
return. 

"  I  thought  you  were  still  at  Warwick  Hall !  " 
he  exclaimed,  dismounting  and  stepping  forward 
with  bared  head,  to  shake  hands  in  his  most  cordial 
way.    "  When  did  you  get  home  ?  " 


8        LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Only  this  mawning,"  answered  Lloyd.  "  All 
the  Commencement  exercises  were  ovah  last  Thurs- 
day, and  we're  school  girls  no  longah.  '  Beyond 
the  Alps  lies  Italy!'  Kitty  can  tell  you  all  about 
it,  for  she  had  the  Valedictory." 

Kitty  met  Alex's  amused  smile  with  a  flash  of 
her  black  eyes,  but  before  she  could  deny  having 
used  the  trite  subject  that  had  been  so  popular  in 
the  old  Lloydsboro  seminary  as  to  have  become  a 
standing  joke,  Alex  answered,  "  Well,  you've  cer- 
tainly lost  no  time  in  starting  out  to  explore  the 
wide  world  that  lies  before  you.  I've  always  heard 
that  there's  nothing  to  equal  the  zeal  of  a  sweet 
girl  graduate  about  to  scale  her  Alps.  You've 
barely  reached  home,  haven't  been  off  the  cars  three 
hours,  I'll  bet,  and  yet  here  you  are  on  the  war- 
path again.  What  Italy  are  you  climbing  after 
now  ?  " 

Ordinarily  his  banter  would  have  been  promptly 
resented  by  both  girls,  but  now  it  served  only  to  re- 
call the  amazing  news  that  had  sent  them  hurrying 
away  from  the  post-office  on  an  excited  quest.  With 
a  dramatic  gesture,  Kitty  drew  a  letter  from  her 
belt  and  held  it  out  to  him. 

"  Think  of  it !  "  she  exclaimed,  her  cheeks  pink 
with  excitement.    "  Gay  Melville's  here  in  the  Val- 


THE  HANGING   OF   THE  MIRROR  9 

ley!  Right  here  in  Lloydsboro!  Settled  in  the 
Lindsey  Cabin  for  the  summer,  and  we  didn't  know 
anything  about  it  till  ten  minutes  ago." 

"  Gay  Melville,"  repeated  Alex,  instantly  alert  at 
mention  of  the  cabin. 

"  Oh  he  doesn't  know  her,  Kitty,"  interposed 
Lloyd.  "  He  wasn't  out  in  the  Valley  the  wintah 
she  spent  her  Christmas  vacation  with  you." 

"Then  you've  something  to  live  for!"  declared 
Kitty  with  emphasis.  "  She's  one  of  the  old  War- 
wick Hall  girls.  Was  in  last  year's  class  with 
Allison  and  Betty,  and  she's  just:  the  sweetest, 
dearest  —  " 

"  Don't  tell  him  any  moah,"  interrupted  Lloyd. 
"  Let  him  find  out  for  himself." 

"  What's  she  doing  at  the  Lindsey  Cabin  ?  "  he 
asked.  He  kept  a  straight  face,  although  inwardly 
chuckling  over  the  fact  that  he  knew  well  enough 
what  she  was  doing,  at  least  what  she  had  been 
doing  three  minutes  ago. 

"  They've  taken  it  for  the  summer,  that  is,  her 
sister  Lucy  and  husband  have,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jameson  Harcourt.  They're  from  San  Antonio, 
and  you  know  the  Lindseys  spend  their  winters 
there,  It  seems  they  interested  Mr.  Harcourt  in 
the  Cabin,  and  of  course  Gay  was  wild  to  get  back 


IO      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

to  the  Valley,  and  she  persuaded  them  to  come. 
She  wrote  to  me  just  as  soon  as  it  was  decided,  but 
the  letter  never  reached  me  till  this  morning.  She 
thought  I  would  get  it  before  I  started  home;  but 
it's  just  like  Gay  to  mix  up  her  address  with  mine. 
She  was  so  excited  when  she  wrote  that  she  ad- 
dressed it  to  Warwick  Hall  Station,  Texas,  instead 
of  District  of  Columbia.  It  has  been  travelling  all 
over  the  country,  and  it's  a  wonder  that  it  ever 
reached  me  at  all." 

"  And  the  worst  of  it  is,"  added  Lloyd,  "  of  co'se 
she  expected  we'd  all  be  heah  to  meet  her.  But  we 
stayed  ovah  in  Washington  two  days,  and  when  they 
came  in  last  night  there  wasn't  a  soul  at  the  station 
to  welcome  them.  The  ticket  agent  told  me  about 
it  just  now  as  we  came  past.  She  seemed  surprised, 
he  said,  and  disappointed.  She  must  have  thought 
it  queah  that  none  of  us  were  there." 

"  Won't  she  be  funny  when  she's  found  what  a 
mistake  she's  made !  "  exclaimed  Kitty.  "  She's 
always  making  mistakes,  and  is  always  perfectly 
ridiculous  over  them  when  she  finds  it  out.  We're 
going  to  take  you  to  call  on  her,  Alex,  just  as  soon 
as  they're  settled.    She  plays  the  violin  divinely." 

"  I'll  go  right  back  with  you  now,"  he  offered 
promptly. 


THE  HANGING   OF   THE  MIRROR  II 

"  No  you  won't,"  they  cried  in  the  same  breath, 
and  Kitty  explained,  "  No  telling  what  sort  of  a 
mess  they'll  be  in  with  their  unpacking.  But  if 
they're  ready  to  see  company  by  night,  I'll  telephone 
to  you,  and  we'll  all  go  over." 

"  I  shall  live  only  for  that  moment,"  he  declared, 
laughing,  then  added  as  he  turned  to  mount  his 
horse,  "  I'm  mighty  glad  I  met  you,  and  I'm  more 
than  glad  that  you've  both  come  home  to  stay." 

A  flourish  of  the  red  parasol  answered  the 
courtly  sweep  of  his  hat  as  they  parted.  He  rode 
on  rapidly  towards  the  post-office,  wondering  if 
they  would  find  the  girlish,  white-clad  figure  still 
perched  on  the  ladder,  up  among  the  roses,  with  the 
sun  making  an  aureole  of  her  shining  hair.  He 
had  never  seen  such  hair.  "  Sandalphon,  the  angel 
of  glory"  —  but  the  quotation  broke  off  with  a 
laugh.  Her  name  was  Gay,  and  it  was  a  looking 
glass  that  she  was  carrying  up  the  ladder.  "  Well, 
she's  an  original  little  thing,"  he  mused,  "  and  if  she 
lives  up  to  her  name  the  Lindsey  Cabin  will  be  just 
as  lively  a  social  centre  as  if  the  Van  Allen  girls 
had  possession." 

The  encounter  with  Alex  had  delayed  the  girls 
but  a  moment  or  two,  still  they  walked  on  faster 
than  ever  to  make  up  the  lost  time, 


12      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"What  do  you  suppose  we'll  find  her  doing?" 
queried  Lloyd. 

"  Something  unexpected,  I'll  be  bound,"  was  the 
answer.  "  Will  you  ever  forget  that  first  time  we 
saw  her,  when  she  came  out  to  play  the  violin  at 
the  Freshman  reception?  Such  a  pretty  white 
dress,  and  that  rapt,  uplifted  look  on  her  face  that 
makes  you  think  of  St.  Cecilias  and  seraphim,  and 
with  one  foot  in  a  white  kid  shoe,  and  the  other  in 
that  awful  old  red  felt  bedroom  slipper,  edged  in 
black  fur!" 

"  Or  the  time  she  lost  her  belt  in  Washington," 
suggested  Lloyd.  "  Probably  we'll  find  her  unpack- 
ing if  the  trunks  came.  But  Gay's  trunks  nevah 
were  known  to  arrive  on  time.  We  may  have  to 
be  lending  her  shirtwaists  and  collahs  for  a  month." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  rustic  foot- 
bridge leading  over  a  ravine  to  the  Cabin,  and  were 
in  full  view  of  the  front  windows.  Gay  was  still 
on  the  ladder.  She  had  made  several  trips  up  and 
down  it  since  Alex  passed.  It  was  hard  to  decide 
at  what  angle  to  hang  the  mirror  on  the  window 
casing,  as  she  had  seen  them  in  old  Dutch  houses 
in  Holland;  and  in  marking  the  place  with  the 
point  of  the  only  nail  that  she  had  provided  on 
which  to  hang  the  mirror,  she  dropped  the  nail 


THE  HANGING  OF  THE  MIRROR  13 

Several  minutes  had  been  wasted  in  a  fruitless 
search  for  it.  Others  were  to  be  had  for  the  pull- 
ing, if  one  could  extract  them  from  the  empty  pack- 
ing-boxes, but  no  hammer  could  be  found  on  the 
premises,  and  it  was  only  after  much  twisting  and 
struggling  that  the  little  coloured  girl  finally  man- 
aged to  pull  one  with  her  teeth. 

Another  five  minutes  had  been  wasted  in  search- 
ing for  something  with  which  to  drive  the  nail. 
Then  Gay  gingerly  ascended  the  ladder  again, 
armed  with  a  pair  of  heavy  old  tongs,  taken  from 
the  porch  fireplace.  She  had  just  reached  the  top 
of  the  ladder  when  the  girls  caught  sight  of  her. 

"  Mercy!  "  exclaimed  Kitty  in  a  low  tone.  "  It'll 
never  do  in  the  world  to  appear  at  this  juncture. 
She's  pretty  sure  to  drop  through  the  ladder  any- 
how, or  upset  herself,  or  have  some  exhibition  of 
the  usual  Melville  luck,  even  if  she's  left  to  herself. 
And  if  she  should  suddenly  discover  us  there's  no 
telling  what  dreadful  thing  might  happen." 

"  Let's  slip  up  behind  the  arbour  and  watch  till 
she's  safely  down  to  earth,"  whispered  Lloyd. 
"  What  do  you  suppose  she's  trying  to  do,  and 
where  do  you  suppose  she  managed  to  pick  up 
Ca'line  Allison?" 

"  Sh !  "    was  the  answer.      "  That's  the  Dutch 


14      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

mirror  she  got  in  Amsterdam  last  summer.  She 
wrote  that  it  was  the  triumph  of  her  life  when  she 
got  home  with  it  whole.  She  carried  it  all  the  way, 
instead  of  packing  it  in  her  trunk.  Listen !  What's 
that  she's  saying?  " 

The  words  floated  down  to  them  distinctly. 
"  Ca'line  Allison,  you'll  have  to  get  me  something 
besides  these  tongs  to  drive  this  nail  with.  I  might 
as  well  try  to  do  it  with  a  pair  of  stilts.  Besides  it's 
making  dents  in  them,  and  it's  wicked  to  spoil  such 
beautiful  old  brasses.  Mercy!  Don't  get  up  yet!" 
she  shrieked  wildly,  as  the  shifting  of  Ca'line  Alli- 
son's small  body  made  the  ladder  slip  a  trifle. 

"  Wait  till  I  poke  these  tongs  through  the  win- 
dow and  take  hold  with  both  hands.  Now !  Hunt 
around  and  find  me  a  stone  or  a  piece  of  brick." 

The  girls  behind  the  arbour  could  not  see  her 
face,  but  the  sight  of  the  familiar  little  figure  cling- 
ing to  the  ladder,  and  the  sound  of  the  beloved  voice 
made  them  long  to  rush  out  and  squeeze  her. 

"  Isn't  her  hair  a  glory,  up  there  in  the  sun- 
shine?" whispered  Kitty.  "The  idea  of  anybody 
calling  it  plain  red  —  such  a  fluff  of  bronzy  auburn 
with  all  those  little  crinkles  of  gold !  And  listen  to 
that  whistle!  You'd  think  it  was  a  real  mocking 
bird." 


THE  HANGING  OF   THE  MIRROR  15 

Wholly  unconscious  of  her  audience,  Gay  teetered 
00  the  ladder,  whistling  and  trilling  like  a  happy 
bobolink,  until  the  little  black  girl  climbed  up  after 
her  with  a  brick  which  she  had  dug  out  from  the 
well  curb.  The  girls  waited  until  the  nail  was  se- 
curely in  place,  the  mirror  hung  and  Gay  had  begun 
to  crawl  down  the  ladder  backward,  before  they 
rushed  out  from  their  hiding-place. 

They  pounced  upon  her  just  as  she  reached  the 
bottom  round,  and  then  ensued  what  Kitty  called 
a  pow-wow  —  an  enthusiastic  welcome  known  only 
to  old  school  chums  who  have  been  separated  so 
long  a  time  as  a  whole  twelvemonth.  Questions, 
answers,  explanations,  a  bubbling  over  of  delight 
at  once  more  being  together,  kept  them  talking  all 
at  once  for  nearly  ten  minutes.  Then  Gay,  remem- 
bering her  duty  as  hostess  led  the  way  into  the 
house, 

"  Come  in  and  see  Lucy  and  her  fond  spouse,  "1 
she  exclaimed.  "  They're  still  at  breakfast  al- 
though it's  ten  o'clock.  None  of  us  could  make  a 
fire  in  the  range.  It  simply  wouldn't  burn.  But 
we  had  brought  a  chafing  dish  in  one  of  the  boxes, 
and  we  found  another  in  the  pantry,  and  they've 
been  mussing  around  for  the  last  two  hours  with 
them,  having  the  time  of  their  lives.    Lucy  made 


1 6     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

fudge  and  omelette  and  tea  for  her  breakfast,  being 
the  things  she  knows  best  how  to  make,  and  brother 
Jameson  is  trying  flap-jacks  and  coffee." 

"  What  did  you  have?  "    asked  Lloyd. 

"  I  ?  Oh  I  emulated  the  example  of  '  The  old 
person  of  Crewd  '  who  said 

"  *  We  use  sawdust  for  food. 
It's  cheap  by  the  ton 
And  it  nourishes  one, 
And  that's  the  main  object  of  food.' 

I  munched  a  handful  of  some  sort  of  new  break- 
fast straw,  but  it  wasn't  very  satisfying,  and  I  was 
just  going  in  to  get  a  cup  of  brother  Jameson's 
coffee.  I  told  him  to  put  my  name  in  the  pot. 
Come  on  in  and  have  some  too." 

Throwing  open  the  dining-room  door  she  began 
a  series  of  breezy  introductions  that  set  them  all  to 
laughing  and  swept  away  every  vestage  of  formal- 
ity. 

Both  Lloyd  and  Kitty  protested  against  taking 
a  single  mouthful  at  that  hour,  but  the  young  host 
poured  out  a  cup  of  very  muddy  coffee  with  such 
a  beaming  smile,  and  the  little  bride  offered  a  very 
bitter  cup  of  tea  in  competition,  with  a  merry  in- 
sistence so  like  Gay's,  that  they  could  not  refuse. 

"  It's  going  to  be  lovely,"   Kitty  managed  to 


THE  HANGING   OF  THE  MIRROR  1 7 

whisper  under  cover  of  the  bustle  of  bringing  in 
more  hot  water.  "  They're  almost  as  harum- 
scarum  and  hap-hazard  as  Gay  herself,  and  '  brother 
Jameson '  looks  as  if  he  might  be  the  '  Gibson 
man's '  youngest  brother." 

"  These  *  babes  in  the  wood '  would  have  per- 
ished but  for  me,"  began  Gay,  who  was  rattling 
along  as  if  she  were  wound  up.  "  /  was  the  robin 
who  came  to  the  rescue.  I  went  over  to  Stump- 
town  bright  and  early  —  you  see  I  remembered  the 
short  cut  through  the  woods  —  and  as  luck  would 
have  it,  found  some  one  willing  to  come,  at  the  very 
first  house  where  I  inquired.  (But  she  can't  come 
till  nearly  noon,  hence  this  disorderly  feasting  and 
rioting.)  Ca'line  Allison  was  swinging  on  the  gate, 
with  her  finger  in  her  mouth.  I  didn't  know  her, 
but  she  remembered  me,  and  complimented  me  by 
asking  if  I'd  done  brought  my  fiddle  along.  I 
think  I'll  engage  her  for  the  summer  for  my  little 
maid-in-waiting.  She's  as  quick  as  a  monkey  and 
would  look  so  cunning  diked  up  in  a  cap  and  apron. 
What's  that  rhyme  Betty  made  about  her  when  she 
was  flower-girl  at  her  own  mother's  wedding?  Oh 
by  the  way,  where  is  Betty?  Why  didn't  she  come 
with  you  ?  " 

"  For  the  good  reason  that  we  didn't  know  we 


l8     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

were  coming  heah  ourselves  when  we  left  home," 
answered  Lloyd.  "Betty  went  on  to  Commence- 
ment with  all  the  rest  of  the  family,  but  it  was  hard 
for  her  to  tear  herself  away  from  her  beloved  writ- 
ing. We  hadn't  been  back  at  Locust  half  an  houah 
this  mawning  till  she  was  at  it  again." 

"  Betty  is  Mrs.  Sherman's  god-daughter,"  ex- 
plained Gay  in  an  aside  to  her  brother-in-law. 
"  The  one  who  I  told  you  is  such  a  genius.  She's 
writing  a  book."  Then  turning  to  Lloyd.  "  It  isn't 
that  same  old  one  she  was  at  work  on  at  school, 
is  it?" 

"  No,  it's  something  she  began  last  fall.  Mothah 
wanted  her  to  make  her  debut  in  Louisville  when 
she  was  through  school,  just  as  I  am  going  to  do 
next  wintah,  but  Betty  begged  to  be  allowed  to  stay 
in  the  country.  She  said  she'd  nevah  be  a  brilliant 
success  socially,  but  that  she'd  do  her  best  to  be  a 
credit  to  the  family  in  some  other  way." 

"  She  will,  too,"  prophesied  Gay.  "  Some  day 
we'll  all  be  proud  of  the  little  song-bird  you  rescued 
from  the  Cuckoo's  Nest.  Dear  old  Betty !  I'd  like 
to  hug  her  this  very  minute." 

The  grandfather's  clock  in  the  hall  was  striking 
eleven  when  they  rose  from  the  table,  but  Gay 
would  not  listen  when  the  girls  attempted  to  take 


THE  HANGING  OF  THE  MIRROR  19 

their  leave.  "  You  haven't  seen  my  room,"  she  in- 
sisted, "  nor  my  mirror.  Come  on  up  stairs  and 
look  into  my  mirror.  It's  the  joy  of  my  heart,  and 
maybe  we'll  all  see  our  fate  in  it.  I  like  to  pretend 
that  it's  a  sort  of  magic  glass  —  that  some  wizard 
of  the  wood  has  laid  a  spell  on  it,  so  that  at  certain 
times  all  the  figures  that  have  ever  been  reflected  in 
it  must  march  across  it  again.  Wouldn't  it  be  lovely 
if  all  the  good  times  it  is  going  to  reflect  this  sum- 
mer could  be  made  to  pass  over  it  again  whenever 
I  wanted  to  recall  them  ?  " 

"  We'd  lead  the  procession,"  announced  Kitty, 
"  for  we  were  the  first  objects  that  crossed  the  path 
after  you  got  it  hung.  If  we  were  not  '  a  group  of 
damsels  glad '  we  were  at  least  a  couple  of  them." 

"  But  you  were  not  the  first,"  confessed  Gay. 
"  Just  as  I  held  it  up  to  adjust  it,  I  had  such  a 
thrillingly  romantic  experience  that  I  nearly  fell  oft" 
the  ladder.  It  showed  me  the  reflection  of  an  aw- 
fully good  looking  young  man  on  horse-back.  But 
when  I  turned  to  look  over  my  shoulder  at  the  orig- 
inal he  was  galloping  down  the  road  like  a  blue 
streak." 

"  I  wondah  who  it  could  have  been,"  mused 
Lloyd.  "  We  met  Alex  Shelby  on  hawseback  just 
a  few  minutes  befoah  we  got  heah,  but  he  nevah 


SO      LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

said  a  word  about  having  seen  anybody,  and  he 
seemed  surprised  when  we  told  him  that  the  cabin 
had  been  rented." 

They  were  up  in  Gay's  room  now,  and  running 
to  the  window,  Kitty  seated  herself  in  the  low 
chair  beside  it.  "  Oh  how  fine !  "  she  called.  "  It's 
at  exactly  the  right  angle,  for  I  can  see  everything 
along  the  path  without  looking  out.  It'll  be  a  sort 
of  Hildegarde's  mirror,  won't  it !  Like  the  Lady  of 
Shalott's." 

Half  under  her  breath  she  began  to  recite  the 
lines  they  had  learned  so  long  ago,  and  from  force 
of  habit  Lloyd  joined  the  sing-song  chant : 

»'  And  moving  through  the  mirror  clear 
That  hangs  before  her  all  the  year, 
Shadows  of  the  world  appear." 

Smiling  to  see  how  well  they  remembered  it, 
they  went  on  in  unison  down  to  the  couplet : 

"  And  sometimes  through  the  mirror  blue 
The  knights  come  riding  two  by  two." 

There  Kitty  broke  off  to  say  "  I  don't  see  how 
that  can  happen  here  this  summer.  It  will  be  sheer 
luck  if  they  come  even  in  singles.  There  never 
were  so  few  boys  left  in  the  Valley,  and  it's  too 
bad  to  have  it  happen  so  the  summer  that  you're 
here.     Nearly  everybody  is  going  away.     You  can 


THE  HANGING  OF  THE  MIRROR  21 

count  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  the  few  who  will 
stay," 

"  What  about  the  two  knights  of  Kentucky?  " 
asked  Gay.  "  You're  a  lucky  girl,  Kitty,  to  have 
two  such  splendid  cousins  as  Keith  and  Malcolm 
Maclntyre." 

"  They  are  already  gone.  They  sailed  for  Eng- 
land with  Uncle  Sydney  and  Aunt  Elise  last  week. 
You  know  I  wrote  you  they  were  going  and  that 
Allison  was  to  be  in  the  party  too.  And  oh  Gay! 
Didn't  you  get  that  letter?  Then  you  haven't  heard 
the  most  important  thing  of  all !  Allison  is  en- 
gaged! It  didn't  happen  till  a  few  days  before  they 
sailed,  and  it  isn't  announced  yet,  but  of  course  she 
wanted  you  to  know  and  I  wrote  to  you  right 
away." 

Gay  bounced  out  of  her  chair  as  if  a  bomb  ex- 
ploded in  the  room. 

"Oh  you  don't  mean  it!"  she  cried  tragically, 
clasping  her  hands.  "  Why  she's  only  been  out 
of  school  a  year !  The  first  of  our  class  to  go !  Oh 
tell  me  all  about  it!  Begin  at  the  beginning  and 
don't  skip  a  thing !  " 

Throwing  herself  down  on  the  floor  at  Kitty's 
feet,  she  propped  her  chin  on  her  hands,  and  her 
elbows  in  Kitty's  lap,  prepared  to  listen. 


22      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  There  isn't  much  to  tell.  You  know  the  for- 
tune that  Mammy  Easter  predicted  for  her  was 
nice,  but  it  wasn't  very  exciting.  She  was  to  '  wed 
wid  de  quality  and  ride  in  her  ca'iage.'  Well,  his 
family  is  certainly  quality,  the  Claibornes  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  she'll  live  in  Washington  and  have  sev- 
eral kinds  of  carriages.  Isn't  it  odd?  We  knew 
him  when  he  was  just  a  boy.  He  was  on  the  same 
transport  with  us  when  we  went  to  the  Philippines, 
and  we  never  imagined  then  that  we'd  ever  see  him 
again." 

"  But  I  thought  that  that  young  Lieutenant 
Logan,"  began  Gay. 

Kitty  interrupted  her  with  a  laugh.  "  Why  my 
dear,  he  is  a  mere  child  compared  to  Raleigh  Clai- 
borne. That  little  affair  was  the  mere  A.  B.  C.  of 
romance.  He's  paying  attention  to  our  youngest 
now.    He  sends  music  and  bon  bons  to  Elise." 

"  Think  of  Elise  being  old  enough  to  receive 
such  attentions !  "  groaned  Gay.  "  It  makes  me 
feel  like  a  patriarch.  But  never  mind  my  hoary 
sensations,  go  on  and  tell  me  some  more.  She's 
going  to  get  her  trousseau  abroad  I  suppose." 

"  Only  part  of  it,  for  the  wedding  isn't  to  take 
place  for  a  year.  Allison  didn't  care  much  about 
going  —  thought  she'd  rather  wait  and  take  the 


THE  HANGING  OF  THE  MIRROR  23 

trip  with  Raleigh.  But  he  is  so  busy  it  may  be 
several  years  before  he  can  get  off  for  a  whole 
summer,  and  Aunt  Elise  persuaded  her  to  go  with 
them.  She  said  it  wouldn't  be  so  easy  for  her  to 
go  when  she  once  assumed  the  responsibility  of  a 
big  establishment." 

Gay  clasped  her  hands  around  her  knees  and 
rocked  herself  back  and  forth  on  the  floor. 

"  I'm  glad  she's  sensible  enough  to  wait  a  year," 
she  declared.  "  I  don't  see  why  girls  are  in  such 
a  hurry  to  tie  themselves  up  in  a  knot.  I  suppose 
it's  perfectly  fascinating  to  be  engaged  and  to  have 
the  choosing  of  a  lovely  trousseau,  and  the  opening 
of  all  the  wedding  presents.  Everybody  takes  so 
much  interest  in  a  prospective  bride.  But  the  fun 
comes  to  an  end  so  quickly.  It's  like  Fourth  of 
July  fire  works.  There's  a  big  blaze  and  excite- 
ment while  it  lasts.  Then  it's  all  over  and  they 
settle  down  to  be  just  prosy  common-place  married 
people.  I  should  think  that  the  reaction  would  be 
deadly,  and  that  if  a  girl  could  see  past  the  time  of 
the  rocket's  shooting  up,  and  realize  that  it  can't 
stay  among  the  stars,  but  must  fall  to  earth  again 
with  a  dull  thud,  she'd  profit  by  other  people's  ex- 
periences, and  not  give  up  all  the  good  times  of  her 
girlhood  before  she'd  half  enjoyed  them." 


24      "LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

Gay  spoke  so  feelingly  that  her  two  listeners 
exchanged  glances  of  surprise.  This  was  not  the 
way  Gay  had  been  wont  to  talk  a  year  ago,  and  each 
wondered  to  herself  if  Lucy's  marriage  had  caused 
this  radical  change  in  her  opinion. 

Suddenly  she  changed  the  subject,  with  the  un- 
expectedness of  a  grasshopper's  leap.  "  Which  one 
of  you  girls  is  going  to  stay  all  night  with  me  ?  " 

Kitty  answered  first.  "  Neither  of  us  ought  to, 
for  we've  only  just  returned  to  the  bosom  of  our 
families.  You  could  hardly  call  us  entirely  arrived 
yet,  for  our  trunks  haven't  come." 

Lloyd  started  up,  and  looked  at  her  watch  in 
alarm.  "  It's  a  good  thing  you  reminded  me  that 
I  have  a  home,"  she  laughed.  "  I  told  mothah  I'd 
just  stroll  down  to  the  post-office  and  be  right  back, 
and  when  I  met  Kitty  with  yoah  lettah  it  drove 
everything  else  out  of  my  head.  She'll  be  wonder- 
ing what  has  happened  to  me.  I'll  come  some  night 
next  week  and  be  glad  to." 

"  No,  one  of  you  has  to  come  back  and  stay  with 
me  to-night,"  Gay  insisted.  "  So  settle  it  between 
yourselves.  You  may  as  well  draw  straws  to  decide 
which  is  to  be  my  victim."  Then,  glancing  around 
the  room  —  "I  don't  happen  to  see  any  straws  at 


THE  HANGING  OF  THE  MIRROR  2$ 

hand,  but  you  might  pull  hairs  for  the  honour. 
Here!   My  head  is  at  your  service,  ladies." 

Dropping  to  her  knees  she  made  a  profound 
salaam,  and  waited  for  them  to  draw.  "  The  one 
who  pulls  the  shortest  hair  comes  back." 

Laughing  over  the  absurd  manner  of  deciding 
such  a  matter,  each  girl  reached  out  and  plucked 
a  hair  by  its  roots,  so  vigorously  that  the  pull  was 
followed  by  a  long  drawn  "  ouch !  " 

"  Mine's  the  shortest,"  giggled  Lloyd,  compar- 
ing it  with  the  one  that  Kitty  held  up.  "  But  I'm 
suah  my  family  will  object  if  I  propose  leaving  them 
the  very  first  night  of  my  arrival,  aftah  I've  been 
away  at  school  all  yeah." 

"  Don't  leave  them  then,"  said  Gay.  "  Bring 
them  all  over  here  to  spend  the  evening.  I'm  wild 
for  Lucy  and  brother  Jameson  to  meet  them  as  soon 
as  possible.  Then  when  bedtime  comes  let  them 
leave  you.  Tell  them  that  Kitty  is  going  to  bring 
all  her  family,  and  that  everybody  in  the  valley  who 
is  anybody  is  coming  to  the  Harcourt's  House- 
warming  to-night  at  the  '  Cabin  in  the  Wood.' ' 

Kitty  began  unfurling  her  red  parasol.  "  That 
certainly  sounds  alluring.  You  can  count  on  all  my 
family,  especially  Ranald,  and  I'll  go  straight  home 
and  telephone  to  Alex  Shelby." 


26      LITTLE   COLONEL'S   KNIGHT   COMES   RIDING 

"Who  may  he  be?"  inquired  Gay,  scrambling 
up  from  the  floor,  to  follow  her  guests  down  stairs. 

Kitty  began  an  enthusiastic  description  of  him, 
which  Lloyd  cut  short  with  the  laughing  remark, 
"  Go  look  in  your  little  Dutch  mirror.  I'm  not 
positive,  but  I  think  he's  yoah  first  *  Knight  of  the 
Looking-glass.' " 


CHAPTER    II 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES 


That  night  a  series  of  interesting  shadows 
trooped  across  the  little  Dutch  mirror,  in  the  moon- 
light, but  nobody  watched  beside  it  to  see  how 
faithfully  it  reflected  the  procession  of  guests,  strag- 
gling up  the  path  below.  After  the  first  pleased 
glance  Gay  had  flown  down-stairs  to  throw  open 
the  front  door  and  bid  them  welcome.  It  was  al- 
most more  than  she  had  dared  to  hope  that  the  old 
Colonel  would  come,  and  "  Papa  Jack  "  and  Kitty's 
Grandmother  Maclntyre.  But  they  had  needed  no 
urging.  Gay  was  reaping  the  aftermath  now,  of 
her  first  visit  to  the  Valley.  They  had  not  forgot- 
ten the  obliging  little  guest  who  had  entertained 
them  with  her  violin  playing,  amused  them  with 
her  quaint  unexpected  speeches,  and  charmed  old 
and  young  alike  with  her  enthusiastic  interest  in 
everything  and  everybody. 

Ranald  had  more  than  that  to  remember,  for  he 
had  carried  on  a  vigorous  correspondence  with  Gay 


28      LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

for  the  last  six  months,  started  by  a  "  dare  "  from 
Allison.  Alex  Shelby's  memory  of  her  dated  back 
only  to  that  morning,  but  the  picture  of  a  sunny 
little  head  up  among  the  roses,  and  that  line  "  San- 
dalphon  the  angel  of  glory "  had  been  in  his 
thoughts  all  day. 

Their  effort  to  show  the  newcomers  how  cordial 
a  Lloydsboro  welcome  could  be,  was  met  by  a  hos- 
pitality which  held  them  in  its  spell  till  after  mid- 
night. Lucy  was  in  her  element.  As  the  popular 
daughter  of  a  popular  army  officer,  she  had  played 
gracious  hostess  ever  since  she  had  learned  to  talk. 
As  for  Gay,  so  anxious  was  she  that  her  friends 
should  be  pleased  with  her  family  and  her  family 
with  her  friends,  that  she  threw  herself  with  all 
her  might  into  the  task  of  making  each  show  off 
to  the  other. 

An  outside  fire-place  on  the  broad  front  porch 
was  one  of  the  features  of  the  Cabin.  The  June 
night  was  cool  enough  to  make  the  blaze  on  its 
hearth  acceptable,  and  Lucy  turned  the  picturesque 
old  kettle,  bubbling  on  the  crane,  to  practical  use, 
making  coffee  to<  serve  with  the  marsh-mallows, 
which  Jameson  handed  around  on  long  sticks,  that 
each  one  might  toast  his  own  over  the  glowing 
eoals. 


BED -TIME  CONFIDENCES  39 

The  informality  of  it  all,  and  the  good  cheer,  made 
every  one  relax  into  his  jolliest  mood,  and  Gay, 
hearing  the  old  Colonel's  laugh,  as  stretched  out  on 
the  settle  by  the  fire,  he  told  stories  and  toasted 
marsh-mallows  with  a  zest,  felt  that  they  had  struck 
the  right  key-note  in  this  first  evening's  entertain- 
ment. It  was  the  harbinger  of  many  others  that 
would  follow  during  the  summer. 

It  was  her  violin  that  held  them  longest.  Stand- 
ing just  inside  the  door  where  Kitty  could  accom- 
pany her  on  the  piano,  she  played  one  after  another 
of  the  favourite  tunes  that  were  called  for  in  turn, 
till  the  fire  burned  low  on  the  porch  hearth,  and 
even  the  voices  of  the  night  were  stilled  in  the  dense 
beech  woods  around  the  Cabin. 

It  was  later  than  any  one  had  supposed  when 
Mrs.  Sherman  made  the  discovery  that  the  hall 
clock  had  stopped. 

"  She  didn't  know  that  I  stopped  it  ori  purpose," 
confessed  Gay,  when  the  last  carriage  had  driven 
away,  and  Lloyd  was  following  her  sleepily  up- 
stairs. She  paused  to  bolt  the  bed-room  door  be- 
hind them. 

"  This  has  been  a  lovely  evening  for  me.  It  gives 
one  such  a  comfortable  I-told-you-so  sort  of  feel- 
ing to  have  everything  turn  out  as  you  prophesied 


30      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

it  would.  Of  course  I  knew  that  Lucy  would  feel 
the  charm  of  the  Valley,  and  like  it  a  thousand 
times  better  than  the  mountains  or  seashore  or  any- 
where else,  but  I  wasn't  so  sure  of  Jameson.  Now 
my  mind  is  completely  at  rest  for  the  summer.  I 
stopped  worrying  when  I  saw  him  hobnobbing  with 
the  Colonel  and  your  father  about  those  Lexington 
horses  he  wants  to  buy.  He  was  so  tickled  over 
those  letters  of  introduction  they  gave  him.  And 
he  was  so  charmed  to  air  his  knowledge  of  the 
Philippines  to  Mrs.  Walton.  He  spent  a  month 
there  you  know.  I  fairly  patted  myself  on  the  back 
all  the  time  he  was  talking.  Somehow  I  feel  so 
responsible  for  this  household.  There!  I  forgot  to 
remind  them  to  bring  that  bothersome  old  silver 
pitcher  upstairs !  " 

Hastily  unbolting  the  door  she  called  out  in 
sepulchral  tones  that  echoed  through  the  dark 
house,  "Remember  the  Maine!" 

There  was  a  laugh  in  the  room  across  the  hall, 
then  her  brother-in-law  who  had  just  come  up- 
stairs, shuffled  down  again  in  his  slippers. 

"  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  remind  them  every  night 
this  summer,"  continued  Gay.  "  I  don't  like  to  call 
out  '  remember  the  silver  pitcher  that  was  our 
great-great-grandmother  Melville's,   and  the  soup 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  31 

ladle  that  some  old  Spanish  grandee  gave  to  one  of 
Jameson's  Castilian  ancestors,'  for  if  a  burglar  were 
prowling  around  he  would  be  all  the  more  anxious 
to  break  in.  So  the  month  I  visited  them,  before  we 
came  here,  I  adopted  that  slogan  for  my  war-cry: 
' "  Remember  the  main "  thing  in  life  to  be  saved 
from  burglars ! '  It  always  sends  one  or  the  other 
of  them  skipping,  for  they  feel  the  responsibility  of 
preserving  such  heirlooms  for  posterity.  I  used  to 
wish  that  I  were  the  oldest  daughter,  so  that  that 
pitcher  would  be  handed  down  to  me  on  my  wed- 
ding day.  I  didn't  realize  what  a  bore  it  would 
be  to  be  tied  for  life -to  such  a  responsibility.  I 
asked  Jameson  why  he  didn't  put  it  and  the  ladle 
In  a  safety  vault  and  be  done  with  it,  and  he  read 
me  such  a  lecture  on  the  sacredness  of  old  associa- 
tions and  family  ties  that  I  somehow  felt  that  his 
old  soup-ladle  expected  me  to  send  it  a  written 
apology." 

Gay  had  bolted  the  door  again,  and  as  she  talked, 
drew  the  curtains  across  the  casement  windows. 
Now  she  sat  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  shaking  out 
her  wealth  of  sunny  hair,  to  brush  and  braid  it  for 
the  night.  It  was  a  cosy  room,  with  low  ceiling 
and  old-fashioned  wall  paper.  With'  the  curtains 
drawn  and  the  candles  in  the  quaint  pewter  sticks 


32      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

lighting  up  the  claw-footed  mahogany  furniture,  it 
was  an  ideal  place  for  the  exchanging  of  bedtime 
confidences.    Gay  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence. 

"What  was  the  matter  with  Betty  tonight? 
She  was  as  quiet  as  a  mouse.  Hardly  had  a  word 
to  say,  and  all  the  time  I  was  playing,  she  sat  look- 
ing out  into  the  night  as  if  she  were  ready  to  cry." 

"  No  wondah !  They  were  so  beautiful,  some 
of  those  nocturnes  and  things,  that  we  all  had  lumps 
in  our  throats.  Nothing's  the  mattah  with  Betty. 
It's  just  the  last  chaptah  she  can't  get  to  suit  her. 
She's  gone  around  in  a  sawt  of  dream  all  day." 

"  Who's  playing  the  devoted  to  her  now  ?  " 

"  Nobody  as  far  as  I  know.  All  the  boys  love 
Betty.  They've  been  perfectly  devoted  to  her  ever 
since  she  came  to  Locust  to  live ;  but  not  —  not  in 
the  sentimental  way  you  mean;  for  instance  the 
way  that  Alex  Shelby  cares  for  Kitty." 

"  Oh  don't  tell  me  there  is  anything  in  that," 
wailed  Gay,  "  at  least  on  Kitty's  part,  for  I've  set 
my  heart  on  her  marrying  a  friend  of  mine  in  San 
Antonio,  so  she'll  always  be  near  me.  You  know 
when  Mammy  Easter  told  her  fortune,  it  was  that 
her  fate  would  come  through  running  water  when 
the  weather  vane  points  West.  I'm  wild  to  have 
her  visit  me  at  Fort  Sam  Houston  next  year,  and 


BED -TIME  CONFIDENCES  33 

this  Frank  Percival  is  the  very  one  of  all  others  for 
her.  He's  a  banker  and  as  good  as  gold  and  — 
oh  well,  there's  no  use  wasting  time  singing  his 
praises  to  you  when  I  want  him  for  Kitty!  But 
about  this  Alex  Shelby,  Kitty  told  me  this  very 
afternoon  that  it  is  you  he  admires  so  much.  She 
told  me  all  about  that  Bernice  Howe  affair,  and 
said  that  ever  since  Katie  Mallard  up  and  told 
him  how  honourably  you  acted  in  the  matter,  he 
has  put  you  on  a  pedestal  and  given  you  a  halo. 
She  said  you  could  have  him  crazy  about  you  if 
you'd  so  much  as  lift  an  eyelash  in  encouragement." 
"Don't  you  believe  it!"  cried  Lloyd.  "That's 
just  Kitty's  way  of  throwing  you  off  the  track. 
We've  been  unusually  good  friends  evah  since  he 
found  out  why  I  broke  my  engagement  to  go  riding 
with  him,  but  he  is  at  The  Beeches  every  bit  as 
much  as  he  is  at  The  Locusts,  and  it's  you  he'll  be 
in  love  with  befoah  the  summah  is  ovah.  He  was 
the  first  one  reflected  in  yoah  looking  glass,  for  he 
confessed  this  evening  how  he  sat  and  watched  you 
on  the  laddah,  and  how  he'd  thought  of  you  all 
day ;  and  he  even  quoted  poetry  about  it,  and  that's 
a  very  serious  symptom  for  Alex  to  show.  He 
nevah  was  known  to  do  such  things  befoah !  Then 
tonight  he  was  simply  carried  away  by  yoah  play- 


34     LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ing.  He  adores  a  violin  and  you  played  all  his 
favourites.     Oh  I  see  yoah  finish !  " 

There  was  a  pause  in  which  Gay  kicked  off  her 
slippers  and  sat  absently  gazing  at  them,  while 
Lloyd  tied  the  ribbons  which  fastened  the  lace  in 
the  collar  of  her  dainty  gown.  Again  it  was  Gay 
who  spoke  first. 

"  Doesn't  it  seem  queer  to  think  of  Allison's 
being  engaged?  It  is  such  a  little  while  since  we 
were  all  school  girls  together.  Nobody  knows 
whose  turn  will  come  next.  It  makes  me  feel  like 
a  soldier  on  a  battle  field  —  comrades  being  shot 
down  all  around  you,  right  and  left,  and  you  never 
knowing  how  soon  it'll  be  your  turn  to  fall.  It's 
awful!  Lloyd,  what's  become  of  that  boy  out  in 
Arizona,  the  one  who  sent  you  those  orange-blos- 
soms in  Joyce's  letter  when  I  was  here  before  ?  He 
was  best  man  at  Eugenia  Forbes'  wedding." 

"  Oh,  you  mean  Phil  Tremont !  "  answered  Lloyd 
placidly,  without  the  conscious  blush  that  Gay  had 
expected  to  see.  "  He  is  out  West  again,  doing 
splendidly,  Eugenia  writes." 

"  I  thought  you  wrote  to  him  yourself." 

Lloyd,  stooping  to  pick  up  her  dress  and  hang 
it  over  a  chair,  did  not  see  with  what  keen  interest 
Gay  watched  her  as  she  questioned. 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  35 

"  Oh,  we  still  keep  up  a  sawt  of  hit  and  miss 
correspondence.  He  writes  every  few  weeks  and 
I  manage  to  reply  once  in  two  months  or  so.  It's 
dreadfully  uphill  work  for  me  to  write  to  people 
whom  I  nevah  see.  It's  been  two  yeahs  since  he 
was  heah,  and  I  nevah  know  what  he'll  be  inter- 
ested in." 

"  I  suppose  it's  easier  writing  to  some  one  you've 
known  all  your  life,  like  Malcolm  Maclntyre  for 
instance.  I'm  so  sorry  he  and  Keith  are  abroad 
this  summer." 

Lloyd's  face  dimpled  mischievously  as  she  began 
to  see  the  drift  of  Gay's  questioning.  "  I  can't  tell 
you  how  easy  it  is  to  write  to  Malcolm,  because 
I've  nevah  done  it.  Now  it's  my  turn  to  ask  ques- 
tions. Where  did  you  get  this  new  photograph  of 
Ranald  Walton  on  yoah  dressing  table?  Beg  it 
from  Kitty  as  you  did  that  one  at  Warwick  Hall, 
when  he  was  a  little  cadet,  or  get  it  from  head- 
quartahs  ?  " 

"  Direct  from  headquarters,"  confessed  Gay  with 
a  laugh.  "  He  isn't  so  afraid  of  girls  as  he  used 
to  be.    Wasn't  he  charming  tonight  ?  " 

So  the  questioning  and  answering  went  on  for 
quarter  of  an  hour  longer,  each  anxious  to  find  how 
far  the  otherhad  drifted  into  the  unexplored  coun- 


36     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

try  of  their  dreams.  Then  Gay  blew  out  the  can- 
dles and  climbed  into  the  high  four-posted  bed  be- 
side Lloyd,  where  they  lay  looking  out  through  the 
open  window  into  the  starlight.  The  moon  had 
been  down  for  some  time.  It  was  so  still  here  in 
the  heart  of  the  beech  woods  that  the  silence  could 
almost  be  felt.    The  girls  spoke  in  whispers. 

"  It  settles  down  on  one  like  a  pall/'  said  Gay. 
"  Are  you  sleepy  ?  " 

"  Not  very,"  answered  Lloyd,  stifling  a  yawn. 

"  Then  there's  one  more  person  in  the  valley 
I  want  to  ask  about.  I  believe  I've  heard  an  ac- 
count oif  every  one  else.  Where's  Rob  Moore  and 
what  is  he  doing?  I  thought  he  would  come  over 
with  you  all  tonight." 

"  Poah  old  Rob,"  answered  Lloyd,  swallowing 
another  yawn.  "  His  fathah  died  a  little  ovah  a 
yeah  ago,  and  he's  nevah  been  like  himself  since. 
He  seemed  to  grow  into  a  man  in  just  a  few  hours. 
It  was  awfully  sudden  —  Mistah  Moore's  death. 
The  shock  neahly  killed  Rob's  mothah,  and  the 
deah  old  judge,  his  grandfathah,  you  know,  was 
simply  heartbroken.  Rob  just  gave  up  his  entire 
time  to  them  aftah  that.  He  was  such  a  comfort, 
Nevah  left  the  place,  and  took  charge  of  all  the 
business    mattahs,    to    spare    them    every    worry. 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  37 

When  things  were  settled  up  they  found  there 
wasn't  as  much  left  as  they  had  thought  there  would 
be,  and  Rob  wouldn't  touch  a  cent  to  finish  his  law 
course.  He  was  afraid  his  mothah  would  have  to 
deny  herself  some  luxury  she  had  always  been  used 
to,  and  he  didn't  want  her  to  miss  a  single  one  she 
had  had  in  his  fathah's  lifetime.  So  he  took  a 
position  in  Louisville,  and  has  been  working  like  a 
dawg  evah  since.  He  reads  law  at  night  with  the 
old  Judge,  so  I  scarcely  evah  see  him.  We've  just 
drifted  apart,  till  it  seems  as  if  the  little  old  Bobby 
I  grew  up  with  is  dead  and  gone.  I  missed  him 
dreadfully  at  first,  all  last  summah,  for  he'd  almost 
lived  at  our  house,  and  was  just  like  a  brothah.  I 
haven't  seen  him  at  all  this  vacation,  though  to  be 
suah  I've  only  been  home  this  one  day." 

In  the  dim  starlight  Lloyd  could  not  see  the  com- 
placent smile  on  Gay's  face,  but  her  voice  showed 
that  she  was  well  pleased  with  the  answers  to  her 
string  of  questions. 

"  Now  I'll  tell  you  why  I  put  you  through  such 
a  catechism,"  she  began.  "  I  wanted  to  make  sure 
that  the  coast  is  clear,  so  that  you  can  undertake 
a  mission  that  is  to  be  laid  at  your  door  this  sum- 
mer. Jameson's  brother  Leland  will  be  here  to- 
morrow afternoon.    If  he  takes  a  fancy  to  the  place 


38      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

he  will  probably  stay  as  long  as  we  do,  and  we  are 
all  very  anxious  for  him  to  stay.  He's  only  three 
years  younger  than  Jameson,  but  the  two  were  left 
alone  in  the  world  when  they  were  just  little  tots, 
and  Jameson  has  been  like  a  father  to  him.  He 
feels  so  responsible  for  him  and  so  does  Lucy.  I 
do  too,  now,  although  he's  only  my  brother-in-law's 
brother,  because  I  persuaded  them  to  come  here  for 
the  summer,  and  Jameson  wanted  to  go  somewhere 
where  Leland  would  be  satisfied  to  stay." 

"  What's  the  mattah  with  him,  that  he  needs  so 
much  looking  aftah?  If  he's  twenty-three  yeahs 
old  it  seems  to  me  that  he  might  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  himself  on  his  own  shouldahs.  Is  he 
wild?" 

"  No.  Jameson  says  he's  always  been  too  high- 
minded  to  do  the  things  men  mean  when  they  talk 
about  sowing  their  wild  oats;  but  he  is  as  utterly 
irresponsible  as  a  will-o-the-wisp.  He  won't  stay 
tied  down  to  anything  —  just  drifts  around,  here 
and  there,  having  a  good  time.  It's  a  pity  that  he 
isn't  as  poor  as  a  church  mouse.  Then  he'd  have 
to  do  something.  He's  so  bright  he  easily  could 
make  something  splendid  of  himself.  Now  Jame- 
son has  good  sensible  ideas  about  not  squandering 
his  money,  and  although  he  doesn't  have  to  worl? 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  $$ 

any  more  than  Leland  does,  he  looks  after  the 
details  of  his  own  business  as  a  man  should. 

"  He  knows  all  about  the  mines  he  has  stock  in 
down  in  Mexico,  and  he  studies  mineralogy  and 
labour  problems  and  investments,  and  has  an  office 
that  he  goes  to  regularly  every  morning.  He  takes 
after  his  father's  side  of  the  house,  practical  Eng- 
lish people.  But  Leland  is  like  his  mother's  family 
(they  were  proud  old  Spaniards  just  a  generation 
or  so  back).  He  is  adventurous  and  roving  and 
romantic,  and  has  the  dolce  far  niente  in  the  blood. 
Jameson  says  that  all  that  Leland  needs  is  to  be 
kept  keyed  up  to  the  right  pitch,  for  he  is  so  im- 
petuous and  headstrong  that  he  always  gets  what 
he  starts  after,  no  matter  what  stands  in  the  way; 
and  that  if  he  could  just  fall  heels  over  head  in 
love  with  some  girl  with  great  force  of  character, 
who  wouldn't  look  at  him  till  he'd  measured 
up  to  her  standards,  it  would  be  the  making  of 
him." 

Lloyd  yawned.  "  Excuse  me  for  saying  it,"  she 
began  teasingly,  "  but  I  don't  see  how  you  can 
get  up  so  much  interest  in  anybody  like  that,  even 
if  he  is  yoah  brothah-in-law's  brothah.  It  sounds 
to  me  as  if  he  is  just  plain  lasy  and  I  nevah  did 
have  any  use  for  a  man  that  had  to  be  nagged  all 


40      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDINQ 

the  time  to  keep  his  ambition  up  to  high-watah 
mark." 

Gay  sat  up  in  bed  in  her  earnestness.  "  Oh 
Lloyd,  don't  say  that ! "  she  protested.  "  Don't 
judge  him  till  you've  seen  him.  He's  perfectly  dear 
in  lots  of  ways,  in  spite  of  his  faults.  You'll  find 
him  fascinating.  Everybody  does.  And  I'm  going 
to  be  entirely  honest  with  you  —  I've  fairly  prayed 
that  you'd  like  him.  You  are  so  strong  yourself, 
the  strongest  character  of  any  girl  I  know,  and 
you  influence  people  so  forcibly  in  spite  of  them- 
selves, that  I've  felt  from  the  start  it  would  be  the 
making  of  Leland  if  you'd  take  him  in  hand  this 
summer." 

Lloyd  smothered  a  laugh  in  the  pillow.  "  '  Why 
don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  John,'  "  she  said  mis- 
chievously. "  Why  don't  you  take  him  in  hand  ? 
You  are  already  interested  so  much  that  you'd  only 
be  combining  pleasuah  with  duty." 

Gay  was  too  much  in  earnest  to  tolerate  any 
levity,  and  went  on  in  her  intense  eager  way.  "  Oh 
I've  already  worn  myself  out  trying  to  influence 
hijfti,  but  it's  of  no  use.  He  knows  me  too  well. 
He's  called  me  '  Pug '  and  '  Red-bird  '  ever  since 
we  went  to  kindergarten  together.  I'm  just  one 
of  the  family.     But  I've  showed  him  your  picture 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  41 

and  told  him  what  an  unapproachable,  unattain- 
able creature  you  are,  and  whetted  his  curiosity  till 
it's  as  keen  as  a  razor.  Oh  I've  played  my  little 
game  like  an  expert,  and  he  doesn't  suspect  in  the 
faintest  degree  what  I  want.  He  thinks  I'm  trying 
to  interest  him  in  Kitty  Walton.  I  told  him  she's 
the  darlingest,  jolliest,  prettiest  thing  in  ten  states, 
and  that  I'd  guarantee  he  wouldn't  feel  bored  once 
this  entire  summer  if  he'd  make  her  acquaintance. 

"  But  you  —  I've  painted  as  so  indifferent  and 
entirely  above  his  reach,  that  just  to  prove  to  me 
I'm  mistaken,  he'll  nearly  break  his  neck  to  put 
himself  on  good  terms  with  you.  It's  just  as  Jame- 
son says,  he'll  ride  rough-shod  over  everything 
that  stands  in  his  way,  to  get  what  he  wants." 

Lloyd  raised  herself  on  her  elbow  and  turned  a 
protesting  face  towards  her  eloquent  bed-fellow. 

"  Well  of  all  cool  things,"  she  began,  half  in- 
clined to  be  indignant,  yet  so  amused  at  Gay's  mas- 
terly management  that  the  exclamation  ended  in  a 
giggle.  "  Where  do  I  come  in,  pray  ?  You  say  he 
always  gets  what  he  goes  aftah.  Did  it  evah  occur 
to  you  that  I  might  not  want  to  be  taken  posses- 
sion of  in  that  high-handed  way?  That  /  might 
have  something  to  say  in  the  mattah?     Haven't 


42      LITTLE   COLONEL'S   KNIGHT   COMES   RIDING 

you  as  much  interest  in  my  welfare  as  in  yoah 
sistah's  husband's  brothah  ?  " 

"  Of  course !  you  blessed  little  goose ! "  ex- 
claimed Gay,  giving  the  arm  next  hers  an  impet- 
uous squeeze.  "  Don't  I  know  the  haughty  Prin- 
cess well  enough  to  be  sure  that  all  the  king's  horses- 
and  all  the  king's  men  couldn't  budge  her  against 
her  will?  I'm  not  looking  ahead  any  farther  than 
this  summer.  But  if  you  could  just  shake  him  up 
and  put  him  on  his  mettle  that  long,  that's  all  I 
ask  of  you.  And  seriously,  dear,  you  might  go  the 
world  over  and  not  find  one  who  measures  up  to 
your  ideals  in  more  ways.  He's  well  born  and 
talented  and  rich  and  fairly  good-looking.  He's 
so  entertaining  one  never  tires  of  his  company, 
good-hearted  and  generous  to  a  fault,  and —  Oh 
Lloyd,  please  say  you'll  take  enough  interest  to 
keep  him  keyed  up  to  the  right  pitch  for  awhile. 
It's  all  he  lacks  to  make  a  splendid  man." 

"  Do  you  know,  I  think  that's  a  mighty  big 
lack,"  said  Lloyd,  honestly.  "  I've  had  strings  on 
my  harp  that  wouldn't  stay  strung.  It's  the  most 
exasperating  thing  in  the  world.  You  know  how 
it  is,  with  a  violin.  Right  in  the  midst  of  the  love- 
liest passages  one  will  begin  to  slip  back  —  just  a 
trifle,  maybe,  not  more  than  a  hair's  breadth,  but 


BED -TIME  CONFIDENCES  43 

enough  to  make  it  flat  and  spoil  the  harmony. 
Then  you  stop  and  tune  it  up  again,  and  go  on  for 
awhile,  but  back  it  will  slip  just  when  you've  got- 
ten to  depending  on  it.  You  know  I  couldn't  have 
any  respect  for  a  man  who  had  to  be  kept  up  to 
the  notch  that  way.  It  would  spoil  the  whole  thing 
to  have  him  flat  on  a  single  note  when  I'd  depended 
on  him  to  ring  clear  and  true." 

Gay  had  no  reply  ready  for  this  unexpected  argu- 
ment, and  her  experience  with  stringed  instruments 
made  it  very  forcible.  It  was  several  minutes  be- 
fore she  answered,  then  she  spoke  triumphantly. 

"  But  you  know  what  a  master  can  do  where  a 
novice  would  fail.  He  can  fit  the  keys  to  hold  any 
position  he  gives  them.  Leland  has  never  felt  the 
touch  of  a  master-hand.  No  one  has  ever  con- 
trolled him.  He  has  always  been  petted  and  spoiled. 
He  has  never  known  a  girl  like  you.  I'm  sure  that 
if  you  were  only  willing  to  make  the  attempt  to 
arouse  his  pride  and  ambition,  you  could  do  won- 
ders for  him." 

It  was  the  most  potent  appeal  Gay  could  have 
made.  To  feel  that  her  influence  may  sway  a  man 
to  higher,  better  things,  will  make  even  the  most 
frivolous  girl  draw  quicker  breath  with  a  sense  of 
power,  and  to  a  conscientious  girl  like  Lloyd  this 


44      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

seemed  an  opportunity  and  a  responsibility  that 
could  not  be  lightly  thrust  aside. 

"  Well,"  she  said  finally,  after  a  moment  of  hesi- 
tation, "  I'll  try." 

Gay  reached  over  with  an  impulsive  kiss.  "  Oh 
you  dear!  I  knew  you  would.  Now  I  can  let  you 
go  to  sleep  in  peace.  '  Something  accomplished, 
something  done,  has  earned  a  night's  repose.'  It 
must  be  awfully  late.     Goodnight  dear." 

Long  after  Gay  had  fallen  asleep,  Lloyd  lay 
thinking  of  the  mission  thus  thrust  upon  her.  If 
this  Leland  Harcourt  had  needed  reforming,  she 
told  herself,  she  wouldn't  have  had  anything  to  do 
with  him.  Her  poor  Violet's  experience  with  Ned 
Bannon  had  taught  her  one  lesson  —  how  mis- 
taken any  girl  is  who  thinks  she  can  accomplish 
that.  But  to  be  the  master-hand  that  could  put  in 
tune  some  really  splendid  instrument  (ah,  Gay's 
appeal  was  subtle  and  strong)  any  girl  would 
be  glad  and  proud  to  be  that:  the  inspiration,  the 
power  for  good,  the  beckoning  hand  that  would 
lead  a  man  to  the  noblest  heights  of  attainment. 

There  was  something  exhilarating,  uplifting  in 
the  thought,  that  banished  sleep.  Night  often 
brings  exalted  moods  that  seem  absurd  next  day. 
Lying  there,  looking  out  at  the  stars,  the  pleasing 


BED -TIME   CONFIDENCES  45 

fancy  came  to  her  that  each  one  was  a  sacred 
altar-flame,  given  into  the  keeping  of  some  unseen 
vestal  virgin.  Now  she  too  had  joined  this  star- 
world  Sisterhood,  and  had  lighted  a  vestal  fire  on 
the  altar  of  a  promise.  In  its  constant  watch,  she 
would  keep  tryst  with  all  that  Life  demanded  of 
her. 


CHAPTER  III 

A  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Next  morning  Lloyd  found  that  her  exalted 
mood  had  faded  away  with  the  stars.  Any  fire  must 
pale  before  the  broad  light  of  day,  and  her  vestal- 
maiden  fervour  had  given  place  to  a  very  lively  but 
mundane  interest  in  the  brother-in-law's  brother. 

She  was  glad  to  hear  at  breakfast  that  he  liked 
tennis,  was  a  good  horseman,  that  private  theatricals 
were  always  a  success  when  he  had  a  hand  in  them. 
She  stored  away  in  her  memory  for  future  use,  the 
information  that  he  had  lived  several  years  in  Spain 
and  Mexico,  and  spoke  Spanish  like  a  native,  that 
unlike  Jameson  he  was  prouder  of  his  Castilian 
ancestors  than  his  English  ones,  and  that  two  of  his 
fads  were  collecting  pipes  and  rare  old  ivory  carv- 
ings. 

The  more  she  heard  about  him  the  less  sure  she 

felt  of  being  able  to  keep  her  promise  to  Gay.     It 

began  to  seem  presumptuous  to  her  that  a  mere 

school-girl  should  imagine  that  she  could  exert  any 

.4* 


DREW    REIN    A    MOMENT    AT    THE    GATE,    TO    LOOK    DOWN     THE 
STATELY    AVENUE." 


A    KNIGHT    COMES    RIDING  47 

influence  over  such  an  accomplished  man  of  the 
world  as  he  evidently  was.  All  that  day  she 
pictured  to  herself  at  intervals  how  she  should  meet 
him  and  what  she  should  say.  It  was  a  new  ex- 
perience for  the  haughty  Princess  who  had  always 
been  so  indifferent  to  the  opinions  of  her  boy 
friends.  Gay's  request  had  made  her  self-conscious. 
Fortunately  she  had  a  glimpse  of  him  before  he  saw 
her,  which  helped  her  to  adjust  herself  to  the  role 
she  wanted  to  assume. 

The  morning  after  his  arrival  in  the  Valley,  he 
and  Ranald  rode  past  the  Locusts,  and  drew  rein  a 
moment  at  the  gate,  to  look  down  the  stately  avenue 
which  was  always  pointed  out  to  strangers.  Lloyd 
watched  their  approach  from  behind  a  leafy  screen 
of  lilac  bushes.  The  gleam  of  a  wild  strawberry 
had  lured  her  over  there  from  the  path,  a  few 
minutes  before.  Then  the  discovery  of  a  patch  of 
four-leaf  clovers  near  by  had  tempted  her  to  a  seat 
on  the  grass.  She  was  arranging  the  long  stems  of 
the  clovers  in  a  cluster  when  the  sound  of  hoof- 
beats  made  her  look  up. 

So  thickset  were  the  lilacs  between  her  and  the 
road  that  not  a  glimpse  of  her  white  dress  or  the 
flutter  of  a  ribbon  betrayed  her  presence,  and  they 
paused  to  admire  the  avenue,  unknowing  that  a  far 


48     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

prettier  picture  was  hidden  away  a  few  yards  from 
them,  in  full  sound  of  their  voices — a  girl  half 
lying  in  the  grass,  with  June's  own  fresh  charm  in 
her  glowing  face,  and  the  sunshine  throwing  dap- 
pled leaf  shadows  over  her  soft  fair  hair.  The 
mischievous  light  in  her  hazel  eyes  deepened  as  she 
watched  them. 

"  '  The  knights  come  riding  two  by  two,'  "  she 
quoted  in  a  whisper,  closely  scrutinizing  the 
stranger. 

"  He  rides  well,  anyhow,"  was  her  first  thought. 
The  next  was  that  he  looked  much  older  than  Gay's 
description  had  led  her  to  imagine.  Probably  it 
was  because  he  wore  a  moustache,  while  Rob  and 
Malcolm  and  Alex  and  Ranald  were  all  smooth- 
shaven.  Maybe  it  was  that  same  black  moustache, 
with  the  gleam  of  white  teeth  and  the  flashing 
glance  of  his  black  eyes  that  gave  him  that  dashing 
cavalier  sort  of  look.  How  wonderfully  his  dark 
face  lighted  up  when  he  smiled,  and  how  distinctly 
one  recalled  it  when  he  had  passed  on.  And  yet 
it  wasn't  a  handsome  face.  She  wondered  wherein 
lay  its  charm. 

Gay's  words  recurred  to  her :  "  So  fiery  and 
impetuous  he  would  ride  rough-shod  over  anything 
that  stood  in  his  way  to  get  what  he  wants." 


A    KNIGHT    COMES   RIDING  49 

"  He  looks  it  "  she  thought,  raising  her  head  a 
trifle  to  watch  them  out  of  sight.  "  I'm  afraid  I  can't 
do  as  much  for  him  as  Gay  expects  for  I'll  simply 
not  stand  his  putting  on  any  of  his  lordly  ways  with 
me."  Gathering  up  her  clovers,  she  started  back 
to  the  house,  her  head  held  high  unconsciously,  in 
her  most  Princess-like  pose. 

Some  one  else  had  watched  the  passing  of  the  two 
young  men  on  horseback.  From  his  arm  chair  on 
the  white  pillared  porch,  old  Colonel  LloAfd  reached 
out  to  the  wicker  table  beside  him  for  his  field-glass, 
to  focus  it  on  the  distant  entrance  gate. 

"  I  don't  seem  to  place  them  "  he  said  aloud.  "  It 
looks  like  young  Walton  on  the  roan,  but  the  other 
one  is  a  stranger  in  these  parts." 

Then  as  he  saw  they  were  not  coming  in,  he 
shifted  the  glass  to  other  objects.  Slowly  his  gaze 
swept  the  landscape  from  side  to  side,  till  it  rested 
on  Lloyd,  sitting  on  the  grass  by  the  lilac  thicket, 
sorting  her  lapful  of  clovers. 

Something  in  her  childish  occupation  and  the 
sunny  gleam  of  the  proud  little  head  bowed  in- 
tently over  her  task,  recalled  another  scene  to  the 
old  Colonel;  that  morning  when  through  this  same 
glass  he  had  watched  her  first  entrance  into  Locust. 
Was  it  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  ago?     It  seemed 


50      'LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

only  yesterday  that  he  had  found  her  near  that  same 
spot  coolly  feeding  his  choicest  strawberries  to  an 
elfish  looking  dog.  Time  had  gone  so  fast  since  his 
imperious  little  grand-daughter  had  come  into  his 
life  to  fill  it  with  new  interests  and  deeper  meaning. 
Yes,  it  certainly  seemed  no  longer  ago  than  yester- 
day that  she  was  tyrannizing  over  him  in  her  ador- 
able baby  fashion,  making  an  abject  slave  of  him, 
whom  every  one  else  feared.  And  now  here  she  was 
coming  towards  him  across  the  lawn,  a  tall,  fair  girl 
in  the  last  summer  of  her  teens.  Why  Amanthis 
was  no  older  than  she  when  he  had  brought  her 
home  to  Locust,  a  bride.  And  no  doubt  some  one 
would  be  coming  soon,  wanting  to  carry  away 
Lloyd,  the  light  of  his  eyes  and  the  life  of  the 
place. 

It  made  him  angry  to  think  of  it,  and  when  she 
stopped  beside  his  chair  to  give  him  a  soft  pat  on 
the  cheek  her  first  remark  sent  a  jealous  twinge 
through  him. 

"  So  that's  who  the  stranger  was  with  young 
Walton"  he  responded.  "Humph!  I  don't  think 
much  of  him." 

"  But  grandfathah,  how  could  you  tell  at  such  a 
distance?"  laughed  Lloyd.  "It  isn't  fair  to  form 
an  opinion  at  such  long  range.     You'd  bettah  come 


A    KNIGHT    COMES   RIDING  51 

with  us  tonight  again  ovah  to  the  Cabin,  and  make 
his  acquaintance.  There's  to  be  anothah  house- 
wahming,  especially  for  him.  Kitty  and  Ranald 
are  engineering  it.  They've  invited  all  the  young 
people  in  the  neighbourhood  —  sawt  of  a  surprise 
you  know.  At  least  they  call  it  that,  although  Gay 
and  Lucy  are  expecting  us.  Even  Rob  is  going, 
for  Kitty  waylaid  him  as  he  got  off  the  train  yestah- 
day  evening,  and  talked  him  into  consenting." 

"  I'm  glad  of  that  "  answered  the  old  Colonel 
heartily.  "  '  All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull 
boy.'  This  last  year  has  been  hard  on  the  lad. 
The  Judge  tells  me  he's  never  left  the  place  a  single 
night  since  his  Daddy  died.  He  just  grinds  along 
in  that  hardware  store  all  day,  and  is  into  his  law 
books  as  soon  as  he  gets  home.  He's  getting  to  be 
an  old  man  before  his  time.  I'm  glad  your  little 
friend  Gay  is  here  this  summer,  on  his  account,  if  for 
no  other  reason.  She'll  draw  him  out  of  his  shell  if 
anybody  can.  I  remember  how  much  he  seemed 
to  be  taken  with  her  that  Christmas  Vacation  she 
spent  in  the  Valley." 

Lloyd  gaped  at  him  in  astonishment.  "  Why 
grandfathah!  I  nevah  dreamed  that  you  noticed 
things  like  that!  " 

"  I  certainly  do,  my  dear  "  he  answered  playfully. 


52      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  I  was  young  myself  once  upon  a  time.  It's  easy 
to  recognize  familiar  landmarks  on  a  road  you've 
travelled.  But  why,"  he  said  suddenly  in  a  changed 
tone,  "  if  I  may  be  so  bold  as  to  ask,  why  is  this 
young  Texan  to  be  ushered  into  the  valley  with  this 
blare  of  trumpets  and  torchlight  effect?  It  he  any- 
thing out  of  the  ordinary?  " 

"  No,  but  it  will  make  him  feel  that  he  hasn't 
dropped  down  into  a  poky  inland  village  with  noth- 
ing doing,  but  into  a  lovely  social  whirl  instead. 
They  want  him  to  be  so  pleased  with  the  place  that 
he'll  be  satisfied  to  stay  all  summah." 

It  was  almost  on  the  tip  of  her  tongue  to  tell 
why  his  family  were  so  desirous  of  keeping  him 
with  them,  but  another  scornful  "  humph!  "  checked 
her.  For  some  unaccountable  reason  the  old 
Colonel  seemed  to  have  taken  a  dislike  to  this 
stranger,  and  she  knew  that  this  information  would 
deepen  it  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  would  not  want 
her  to  have  anything  to  do  with  him. 

"  He'd  be  furious  if  he  knew  what  I  promised 
Gay,"  she  thought,  "  for  he  takes  such  violent  prej- 
udices that  the  least  thing  '  adds  fuel  to  the  flame.' 
He  might  not  want  me  to  let  him  call  heah  or  any- 
thing." 

"What  do  you  keep  saying  'humph!'  to  me 


A   KNIGHT   COMES   RIDING  53 

foh?  "  she  asked  saucily,  "  when  I'm  trying  to  tell 
you  the  news  and  am  so  kind  and  polite  as  to  ask 
you  to  go  to  the  pahty  with  us.  It's  dreadful  to 
have  such  an  old  ogah  of  a  grandfathah,  who  makes 
you  shake  in  yoah  shoes  every  time  he  opens  his 
mouth." 

Her  arm  was  round  his  neck  as  she  spoke,  and 
her  cheek  pressed  against  his.  The  caress  drove 
away  every  other  thought  save  that  it  was  good  to 
have  his  little  Colonel  home  again,  and  he  gave  a 
pleased  chuckle  as  she  went  on  scolding  him  in  a 
playful  manner  that  no  one  else  in  the  woi;ld  ever 
dared  assume  with  him.  But  all  the  while  that 
she  was  twisting  his  white  moustache,  and  braiding 
his  Napoleon-like  goatee  into  a  funny  little  tail, 
she  was  thinking  about  the  evening,  and  the  in- 
different air  with  which  she  intended  to  meet  Leland 
Harcourt.  She  would  have  to  be  indifferent,  and 
oblivious  of  his  existence  as  far  as  she  could  politely, 
because  Gay  had  told  him  that  she  was  unapproach- 
able and  unattainable.  She  would  talk  to  Rob  most 
of  the  evening,  she  decided.  She  was  glad  that  she 
would  have  the  opportunity,  for  she  had  not  seen 
him  since  coming  home.  He  had  called  at  The 
Locusts  the  night  after  her  return  from  school, 


54     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

but  that  was  the  night  she  had  stayed  at  the  Cabin 
with  Gay,  and  she  had  missed  him. 

"  Did  you  know  that  your  trunks  came  while  you 
were  at  the  post-office?"  asked  the  Colonel 
presently.  Owing  to  some  mistake  in  checking  their 
baggage  in  Washington,  Lloyd's  trunks  had  been 
delayed,  and  she  had  been  wearing  some  of  Betty's 
clothes  the  two  days  she  had  been  at  home. 

"  Why  didn't  you  tell  me  soonah  ?  "  she  asked, 
springing  up  from  her  seat  on  the  arm  of  his 
chair.  "  I've  been  puzzling  my  brains  all  mawning 
ovah  what  I  could  weah  tonight."  Hastily  gather- 
ing up  the  handful  of  clovers  that  she  had  dropped 
on  the  wicker  table,  she  ran  upstairs.  Everything  in 
her  pink  bower  of  a  room  was  in  confusion.  Her 
Commencement  gown  lay  on  the  bed  like  an  armful 
of  thistledown,  with  her  gloves  and  lace  fan  beside 
it.  On  the  mantel  stood  the  little  white  slippers  in 
which  she  had  tripped  across  the  rostrum  at  War- 
wick Hall  to  receive  her  diploma  from  Madam 
Chartley's  hands.  Now  the  diploma  with  its  im- 
posing red  seals  and  big  blue  satin  bow,  was  repos- 
ing on  top  of  the  clock  on  the  same  mantel  with  the 
slippers,  and  from  the  open  trunks  which  Mom 
Beck  was  unpacking,  a  motley  collection  of  books, 


'A    KNIGHT   COMES   RIDING  55 

clothing',  sorority  banners  and  school-girl  souvenirs 
flowed  out  all  over  the  floor. 

The  old  coloured  woman  was  garrulous  this  morn- 
ing. Her  trip  to  Washington  "  with  all  her  white 
folks,  to  her  baby's  Finishment "  (she  couldn't  un- 
derstand why  it  should  be  called  Commencement), 
had  been  the  event  of  her  life;  and  when  she  could 
get  no  one  else  to  listen,  she  talked  to  herself,  re- 
counting each  incident  of  her  journey  with  unctuous 
enjoyment. 

She  was  on  her  knees  now  before  one  of  the 
trunks,  talking  so*  earnestly  into  its  depths,  that 
Lloyd,  entering  the  room,  looked  around  to  see  who 
her  audience  could  be.  At  the  sound  of  Lloyd's  step 
the  monologue  came  to  a  sudden  stop,  and  the 
wrinkled  old  face  turned  with  a  smile. 

"  What  you  want  me  to  do  with  all  these  yeah 
school  books,  honey,  now  you  done  with  'em  fo' 
evah?" 

"  Mercy,  Mom  Beck !  don't  talk  as  if  I  had  come 
to  the  end  of  every  thing,  and  am  too  old  to  study 
any  moah !  I  expect  to  keep  up  my  French  and 
German  all  next  win  tan,  even  if  I  am  a  debutante. 
Don't  you  remembah  what  Madam  Chartley  said 
in  her  lovely   farewell  speech  to   the  graduating 


56      'LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

class?  What's  the  good  of  taking  you  to  Com- 
mencement, if  that's  all  the  impression  it  made?" 

A  pleased  cackle  of  a  laugh  answered  her. 
"  Law,  honey,  I  couldn't  listen  to  speeches !  I  was 
too  busy  thinkin'  of  Becky  Potah  in  her  black  silk 
dress  that  ole  Cun'l  give  me  for  the  grand  occasion, 
an'  the  purple  pansies  in  my  bonnet.  The  queen  o' 
Sheby  couldn't  held  a  can'le  to  me  that  day." 

She  was  off  on  another  chapter  of  reminiscences 
now,  but  Lloyd  paid  no  attention.  As  she  picked 
up  the  books  and  found  places  for  them  on  the  low 
shelves  that  filled  one  side  of  the  room,  she  felt  as 
if  she  were  assisting  at  the  last  sad  rites  of  some- 
thing very  dear;  for  each  page  was  eloquent  with 
happy  memories  of  her  last  year  at  school.  Every 
scribbled  margin  recalled  some  pleasant  recitation 
hour,  and  most  of  the  fly-leaves  were  decorated 
b)^  Kitty's  ridiculous  caricatures.  She  and  Kitty 
had  been  room-mates  this  last  year. 

In  order  to  find  place  for  these  books,  which  she 
had  just  brought  home,  she  had  to  carry  a  row  of 
old  ones  down  to  the  library.  They  were  juvenile 
tales,  most  of.  them,  which  she  laid  aside;  girls' 
stories  that  had  once  been  a  never  failing  source  of 
delight.  She  could  remember  the  time  (and  not  so 
very  long  ago,  either)  when  it  had  seemed  impossi- 


A    KNIGHT    COMES    RIDING  57 

ble  that  she  could  out-grow  them.  And  now  as  she 
trailed  down  stairs  with  an  armful  of  her  old 
favourites,  she  felt  as  if  the  shadowy  figure  of  her 
childhood,  the  little  Lloyd  that  used  to  be,  followed 
her  with  reproachful  glances  for  her  disloyalty  to 
these  discarded  frienas. 

On  her  way  back  to  her  room  for  a  second  arm- 
ful, she  stopped  outside  Betty's  door  for  a  moment, 
hoping  to  hear  some  noise  within,  which  would 
indicate  that  Betty  was  not  at  her  desk.  There  was 
so  much  that  she  wanted  to  talk  to  her  about.  One 
of  the  things  she  had  looked  forward  to  most 
eagerly  in  her  home-coming  was  the  long,  sisterly 
talks  they  would  have  together.  Now  it  was  a  dis- 
appointment to  find  her  so  absorbed  in  her  writing 
that  she  was  as  inaccessible  as  if  she  had  withdrawn 
into  a  cloister. 

"  I'll  be  glad  when  the  old  book  is  finished " 
thought  Lloyd  impatiently  as  she  tip-toed  away 
from  the  door.  To  her,  Betty's  ability  to  write  was 
a  mysterious  and  wonderful  gift.  Not  for  any- 
thing would  she  have  interrupted  her  when  "  genius 
burned,"  but  she  resented  the  fact  that  it  should  rise 
between  them  as  it  had  done  lately.  Even  when 
Betty  was  not  shut  up  in  her  room  actually  at 
work,  her  thoughts  seemed  to  be  on  it.     She  was 


58      LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

living  in  a  world  of  her  own  creating,  more  inter- 
ested in  the  characters  of  her  fancy  than  those  who 
sat  at  table  with  her.  Since  beginning  the  last 
chapter  she  had  been  so  preoccupied  and  absent- 
minded,  that  Lloyd  hardly  knew  her.  She  was  so 
unlike  the  old  Betty,  the  sympathetic  confidante  and 
counsellor,  who  had  been  interested  in  even  the 
smallest  of  her  griefs  and  joys. 

If  Lloyd  could  have  looked  on  the  other  side  of 
the  closed  door  just  then,  the  expression  on  Betty's 
face  would  have  banished  every  feeling  of  im- 
patience or  resentment,  and  sent  her  quietly  away 
to  wait  and  wonder,  while  Betty  passed  through 
one  of  the  great  hours  of  her  life. 

With  a  tense,  earnest  face  bent  over  the  manu- 
script, she  reached  the  climax  of  her  story  —  the 
last  page,  the  last  paragraph.  Then  with  a  throb- 
bing heart,  she  halted  a  moment,  pen  in  hand,  be- 
fore adding  the  words,  The  End.  She  wrote  them 
slowly,  reverently  almost,  and  then  realizing  that 
the  ambition  of  her  life  had  been  accomplished, 
looked  up  with  an  expression  of  child-like  awe  in 
her  brown  eyes.  It  was  done  at  last,  the  work  that 
she  had  pledged  herself  to  do  so  long  ago,  back 
there  in  the  little  old  wooden  church  at  the  Cuckoo's 
Nest. 


A    KNIGHT    COMES   RIDING  59 

For  a  time  she  forgot  the  luxurious  room  where 
she  sat,  and  was  back  at  the  beginning  of  her  ambi- 
tion and  high  resolves,  in  that  plain  old  meeting 
house  in  the  grove  of  cedars.  Again  she  tiptoed 
down  the  empty  aisle,  that  was  as  still  as  a  tomb, 
save  for  the  buzzing  of  a  wasp  at  the  open  window 
through  which  she  had  climbed.  Again  she  opened 
the  little  red  book-case  above  the  back  pew,  that 
held  the  remnants  of  a  scattered  Sunday-school 
library.  The  queer  musty  smell  of  the  time-yel- 
lowed volumes  floated  out  to  her  as  strong  as  ever, 
mingling  with  the  warm  spicy  scent  of  pinks  and 
cedar,  from  the  graveyard  just  outside  the  open 
window. 

Those  tattered  books,  read  in  secret  to  Davy  on 
sunny  summer  afternoons,  had  been  the  first  voices 
to  whisper  to  her  that  she  too  was  destined  to  leave 
a  record  behind  her.  And  now  that  she  had  done 
it,  they  seemed  to  call  her  back  to  that  starting 
place.  Sitting  there  in  happy  reverie,  she  wished 
that  she  could  make  a  pilgrimage  back  to  the  little 
church.  She  would  like  to  slip  down  its  narrow 
aisle  just  when  the  afternoon  sun  was  shining 
yellowest  on  its  worn  benches  and  old  altar,  and 
dropping  on  her  knees  as  she  had  done  years  ago 
in    a    transport    of    gratitude,    whisper    a    happy 


60      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Thank  you,  God  "  from  the  depths  of  a  glad  little 
heart 

Presently  the  whisper  did  go  up  from  her  desk 
where  she  sat  with  her  face  in  her  hands.  Then 
reaching  out  for  the  last  volume  of  the  white  and 
gold  series  that  chronicled  her  good  times,  she 
opened  it  to  where  a  blotter  kept  the  place  at  a  half 
written  page,  and  added  this  entry. 

"  June  20th.  Truly  a  red-letter  day,  for  hereon 
endeth  my  story  of  '  Aberdeen  Hall.'  The  book  is 
written  at  last.  Two  chapters  are  still  to  be  copied 
on  the  typewriter,  but  the  '  web '  itself  is  woven, 
and  ready  to  be  cut  from  the  loom.  I  am  glad  now 
that  I  waited ;  that  I  did  not  attempt  to  publish  any- 
thing in  my  teens.  The  world  looks  very  different 
to  me  now  at  twenty.  I  have  outgrown  my  early 
opinions  and  ideals  with  my  short  dresses,  just  as 
Mrs.  Walton  said  we  would.  Now  the  critics  can 
say  '  Thou  waitedst  till  thy  woman's  fingers 
wrought  the  best  that  lay  within  thy  woman's 
heart.'  I  can  say  honestly  I  have  put  the  very  best 
of  me  into  it,  and  the  feeling  of  satisfaction  that 
I  have  accomplished  the  one  great  thing  I  started 
out  to  do  so  many  years  ago,  gives  me  more  happi- 
ness I  am  sure,  than  any  '  diamond  leaf '  that  any 
prince  could  bring." 


A    KNIGHT    COMES    RIDING  6l 

Such  elation  as  was  Betty's  that  hour,  seldom 
comes  to  one  more  than  once  in  a  life-time.  Years 
afterward  her  busy  pen  produced  far  worthier 
books,  which  were  beloved  and  bethumbed  in  thou- 
sands of  libraries,  but  none  of  them  ever  brought 
again  that  keen  inward  thrill,  that  wave  of  intense 
happiness  which  surged  through  her  warm  and 
sweet,  as  she  sat  looking  down  on  that  first  com- 
pleted manuscript.  She  was  loath  to  lay  it  aside, 
for  the  joy  of  the  creator  possessed  her,  and  in  the 
first  flush  of  pleased  surveyal  of  her  handiwork, 
she  humbly  called  it  good. 

She  went  down  to  lunch  in  such  an  uplifted  frame 
of  mind  that  she  seemed  to  be  walking  on  air.  But 
Betty  was  always  quiet,  even  in  her  most  intense 
moments.  Save  for  the  brilliant  colour  in  her 
cheeks  and  the  unusual  light  in  her  eyes  there  was 
no  sign  of  her  inward  excitement.  She  slipped 
into  her  seat  at  table  with  the  careless  announce- 
ment "  Well,  it's  finished." 

It  was  Lloyd  who  made  all  the  demonstration 
amid  the  family  congratulations.  Waving  her 
napkin  with  one  hand  and  clicking  two  spoons  to- 
gether like  castanets,  she  sprang  from  her  chair 
and  rushed  around  the  table  to  give  vent  to  her 


62      LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

pleasure  by  throwing  her  arms  around  Betty  in  a 
delighted  embrace. 

"  Oh  you  little  mouse !  "  she  cried.  "  How  can 
you  sit  there  taking  it  so  calmly?  If  I  had  done 
such  an  amazing  thing  as  to  write  a  book,  I'd  have 
slidden  down  the  ban'istahs  with  a  whoop,  to  an- 
nounce it,  and  come  walking  in  on  my  hands  instead 
of  my  feet. 

"  Of  co'se  I'm  just  as  proud  of  it  as  the  rest  of 
the  family  are  "  she  added  when  she  had  expended 
her  enthusiasm  and  gone  back  to  her  seat,  "  but  now 
that  it's  done  I'll  confess  that  I've  been  jealous  of 
that  old  book  evah  since  I  came  home,  and  I'm 
mighty  glad  it's  out  of  the  way.  Now  you'll  have 
time  to  take  some  interest  in  what  the  rest  of  us  are 
doing,  and  you'll  feel  free  to  go  in,  full-swing,  for 
the  celebration  at  the  Cabin  tonight." 

All  the  rest  of  that  day  seemed  a  fete  day  to 
Betty.  Her  inward  glow  lent  a  zest  to  the  doing 
of  even  the  most  trivial  things,  and  she  prepared 
for  the  gaieties  at  the  Cabin,  as  if  it  were  her  own 
entertainment,  pleased  that  this  red-letter  occasion 
of  her  life  should  be  marked  by  some  kind  of  a 
celebration.  It  was  to  do  honour  to  the  day  and  not 
to  the  Harcourt's  guest,  that  she  arrayed  herself  in 
her  most  becoming  gown. 


A    KNIGHT    COMES    RIDING  63 

Rob  dropped  in  early,  quite  in  the  old  way  as  if 
there  had  never  been  a  cessation  of  his  daily  visits, 
announcing  that  he  had  come  to  escort  the  girls  to 
the  Cabin.  Lloyd  who  was  not  quite  ready,  leaned 
over  the  banister  in  the  upper  hall  for  a  glimpse 
of  her  old  playmate,  intending  to  call  down  some 
word  of  greeting ;  but  he  looked  so  grave  and  digni- 
fied as  he  came  forward  under  the  hall  chandelier 
to  shake  hands  with  Betty,  that  she  drew  back  in 
silence. 

The  next  instant  she  resented  this  new  feeling 
of  reserve  that  seemed  to  rise  up  and  wipe  out  all 
their  years  of  early  comradery.  Why  shouldn't  she 
call  down  to  him  over  the  banister  as  she  had  always 
done?  she  asked  herself  defiantly.  He  was  still  the 
same  old  Rob,  even  if  he  had  grown  stern  and  grave 
looking.  She  leaned  over  again,  but  this  time  it 
was  the  sight  of  Betty  that  stopped  her.  She  had 
never  seen  her  so  beaming,  so  positively  radiant.  In 
that  filmy  yellow  dress,  she  might  have  posed  as 
the  Daffodil  Maid.  Her  cheeks  were  still  flushed, 
her  velvety  brown  eyes  luminous  with  the  joy  of  the 
day's  achievement. 

Lloyd  watched  her  a  moment  in  fascinated  ad- 
miration, as  she  stood  laughing  and  talking  under 
the  hall  light.    Then  she  saw  that  Rob  was  just  as 


64     LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

much  impressed  with  Betty's  attractiveness  as  she 
was,  and  was  looking  at  her  as  if  he  had  made  a 
discovery. 

His  pleased  glance  and  the  frank  compliment  that 
followed  sent  a  thought  into  Lloyd's  mind  that 
made  her  wonder  why  it  had  never  occurred  to 
her  before.  How  well  Betty  would  fit  into  the 
establishment  over  at  Oaklea.  What  a  dear  daugh- 
ter she  would  make  to  Mrs.  Moore,  and  what  a 
joy  she  would  be  to  the  old  Judge !  Rob  seemed 
to  be  finding  her  immensely  entertaining.  Well, 
there  was  no  need  for  her  to  hurry  down  now.  She 
could  take  her  time  about  changing  her  dress. 

Lloyd  could  not  have  told  what  had  made  her 
decide  so  suddenly  that  her  dress  needed  changing. 
She  had  put  on  a  pale  green  dimity  that  she  liked 
because  it  was  simple  and  cool-looking,  but  now  af- 
ter a  glance  into  the  mirror  she  began  to  slip  it  off. 

"  It  looks  like  a  wilted  lettuce  leaf,"  she  said 
petulantly  to  her  reflection,  realizing  that  nothing 
but  white  could  hold  its  own  when  brought  in  con- 
tact with  Betty's  gown.  That  pale  exquisite  shade 
of  glowing  yellow  would  be  the  dominating  colour 
in  any  place  it  might  be  worn. 

"  I  must  live  up  to  Gay's  expectations,"  she 
thought,  "so  white  it  shall  be,  Senor  Harcourt!" 


A    KNIGHT    COMES   RIDING  65 

His  dark  face  with  its  flashing  smile  rose  before 
her,  and  stayed  in  the  foreground  of  her  thoughts, 
ail  the  time  she  was  arraying  herself  in  her  daintiest, 
fluffiest  white  organdy.  Clasping  the  little  necklace 
of  Roman  pearls  around  her  throat,  and  catching  up 
her  lace  fan,  she  swept  up  to  the  mirror  for  a  last 
anxious  survey.  It  was  a  thoroughly  satisfactory 
one,  and  with  a  final  smoothing  of  ribbons  she 
smiled  over  her  shoulder  at  the  charming  reflection. 

"  Now  I'll  go  down  and  practise  my  airs  and 
graces  on  Rob  and  Betty  for  awhile.  But  I'll  leave 
them  in  peace  after  we  get  to  the  Cabin,  for  if 
there  should  be  any  possibility  of  their  beginning  to 
care  for  each  othah,  I  wouldn't  get  in  the  way  for 
worlds.  Now  this  is  the  way  I'll  sail  in  to  meet 
Mistah  Harcourt !  " 

Thus  it  happened  that  the  hauteur  with  which 
she  intended  to  impress  him  was  in  her  manner 
when  she  swept  in  to  greet  Rob.  It  was  not  meant 
for  Rob  but  it  had  the  same  effect  as  if  it  were, 
making  him  feel  as  if  she  wished  to  drop  the 
friendly  familiarity  of  their  school  days,  and  meet 
him  on  the  footing  of  a  recent  acquaintance.  He 
had  been  looking  forward  all  year  to  her  home- 
coming, and  now  it  gave  him  a  vague  sense  of  dis- 
appointment and  injury,  that  she  should  be  as  con- 


66      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ventionally  gracious  to  him  as  if  he  were  the  veriest 
stranger.  His  eyes  followed  her  wistfully,  as  if 
looking  for  something  very  precious  which  he  had 
lost. 

Wholly  unconscious  of  the  way  she  was  spoiling 
the  evening  for  him  Lloyd  went  on  playing  the  part 
of  Serene  Highness,  laid  out  for  her.  Never  to 
Gay's  admiring  eyes  had  she  seemed  more  beauti- 
ful, more  the  fair  unattainable  Princess,  than  she 
was  in  her  meeting  with  Leland  Harcourt.  Gay 
wanted  to  pat  her  on  the  back,  for  she  saw  that  she 
had  made  the  very  impression  expected  of  her. 
Long  practice  had  made  Gay  quick  in  interpreting 
Leland's  slightest  change  of  expression,  and  she  was 
well  pleased  now  with  what  she  read  in  his  face. 

But  to  Lloyd,  the  dark,  smiling  eyes,  regarding 
everything  with  a  slightly  amused  expression, 
showed  nothing  more  than  the  superficial  interest 
which  ordinary  politeness  demanded  of  him.  He 
made  some  pretty  speech  about  the  Valley  and  his 
pleasure  in  meeting  its  charming  people,  and  then 
stood  talking  only  long  enough  to  make  her  feel 
that  Gay  was  right  in  her  estimate' of  him.  He  was 
entertaining,  even  fascinating  in  his  manner,  more 
entertaining  than  any  man  she  had  ever  met.  But 
just  as  she  reached  this  conclusion  she  found  her- 


A    KNIGHT    COMES    RIDING  67 

self  handed  over  in  some  unaccountable  way  to  some 
one  else,  and  that  was  the  last  of  his  attention  to  her 
that  night. 

He  seemed  immensely  entertained  by  Kitty,  and 
much  interested  in  Betty  and  the  fact  that  she  had 
finished  writing  a  book  that  very  day.  Gay  heralded 
her  advent  with  that  news.  Lloyd  could  overhear 
little  scraps  of  conversation  that  made  her  long  to 
have  a  share  in  it.  His  repartee  was  positively 
brilliant  she  found  herself  thinking;  the  kind  that 
one  reads  of  in  books,  but  never  hears  elsewhere. 

For  the  first  time  in  her  life  Lloyd  felt  herself 
calmly  and  deliberately  ignored,  just  as  she  had 
planned  to  ignore  him. 

"  Maybe  it's  because  Gay  told  him  that  I  would 
be  so  indifferent/'  she  thought,  "  and  he  doesn't 
think  it  worth  the  effort  to  put  himself  out  to  make 
me  be  nice  to  him.     I  don't  care." 

Nevertheless  a  little  feeling  of  disappointment 
and  pique  crept  in  to  spoil  her  evening  also,  for  in 
the  limited  wisdom  of  her  school-girl  experiences 
she  did  not  recognize  that  this  worldly-wise  young 
man  was  ignoring  her  because  he  was  interested; 
that  he  had  only  adopted  her  own  tactics  as  the 
surest  way  of  gaining  his  end. 


CHAPTER    IV; 
betty's  novel 

It  was  Gay's  voice  over  the  telephone.  "  Oh 
Lloyd,  can't  you  come?  Do  arrange  it  some  way. 
Lucy  is  frightened  stiff  at  the  thought  of  being  left 
here  alone  all  night  with  just  me.  And  she  thought 
it  would  be  such  a  good  time  for  Betty  to  read  us 
her  novel,  as  she  promised,  before  she  sends  it  away 
to  the  publishers.  There'll  be  no  callers  to  inter* 
rupt  us  on  such  a  rainy  day." 

"  Hold-  the  phone  a  minute,"  answered  Lloyd. 
"  I'll  see.  It's  Gay,"  she  explained  to  her  mother 
who  had  come  out  into  the  hall  at  the  first  tinkle 
of  the  bell,  thinking  the  summons  might  be  for  her. 

"  Mistah  Harcourt  and  his  brothah  went  to  Lex- 
ington this  mawning  to  buy  those  hawses,  and  Gay 
and  Lucy  are  afraid  to  stay  there  tonight.  The 
cook  had  promised  to  sleep  at  the  house,  but  some- 
thing turned  up  at  her  home  a  little  while  ago  to 

prevent.     So  they  want  Kitty  and  Betty  and  me  to 

68 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  69 

come  ovah  right  away  and  spend  the  aftahnoon 
and  night.  It's  raining  cataracts  and  I  know  you 
don't  like  to  take  the  new  carriage  out  in  such 
weathah,  but  couldn't  Alec  put  the  curtains  on  the 
old  one?" 

Mrs.  Sherman  glanced  dubiously  towards  the 
windows,  against  which  the  rain  was  beating  in 
torrents. 

"  And  leave  me  all  alone,  when  I've  been  looking 
forward  to  this  same  good,  rainy  afternoon  with 
you,"  almost  slipped  from  Mrs.  Sherman's  tongue. 
But  the  eager  desire  shining  in  the  faces  of  both 
girls  kept  back  the  words. 

"  It's  only  a  warm  summer  rain,"  interposed 
Betty,  seeing  her  hesitate. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  consented  Mrs.  Sherman 
with  a  smile,  but  as  she  went  back  to  her  room  she 
stifled  a  little  sigh  of  disappointment.  "  I  suppose 
it's  only  natural  they  should  want  to  be  going,"  she 
thought.  "  But  if  it  wasn't  so  selfish  I  could  al- 
most wish  that  Gay  hadn't  come  to  the  Valley  for 
the  summer.  She  will  take  Lloyd  away  from  home 
so  often,  and  I  have  looked  forward  so  long  to  the 
companion  she  would  be  when  her  school  days  were 
ended." 

Wholly  unconscious  of  her  mother's  disappoint- 


7<5      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ment  Lloyd  was  answering  merrily,  "  We'll  be  ovah 
right  away !  Ring  up  Kitty  again,  and  tell  her  we'll 
drive  by  for  her." 

An  hour  later  the  five  girls  (for  the  bride  of  a 
year  seemed  the  youngest  of  them  all  at  times) 
were  seated  in  an  upstairs  room  at  the  Lindsey 
Cabin,  each  in  a  comfortable  rocking  chair.  Lucy 
had  taken  them  to  her  room  saying  it  was  cozier 
up  near  the  roof  where  they  could  hear  the  rain 
patter  on  the  shingles.  Also  her  dormer  windows 
faced  the  West,  and  they  would  have  daylight 
longer  there. 

It  took  a  little  while  for  them  to  get  settled  for 
the  reading.  Lucy  brought  out  the  family  darning 
with  a  matronly  air,  when  she  saw  that  Lloyd  had 
brought  a  square  of  linen  to  start  a  piece  of  drawn- 
work,  and  Kitty  had  some  napkins  to  hem.  Mrs. 
Walton  had  turned  over  the  management  of  the 
house  to  Kitty  only  that  day  (Allison  had  had  it 
the  year  before)  and  with  house-wifely  zeal  she 
had  begun  with  an  exploration  of  the  linen  closet 
where  she  had  found  a  pile  of  unhemmed  linen. 

Not  wanting  to  be  idle  while  all  the  rest  were 
occupied,  Gay  kept  them  waiting  while  she  bur- 
rowed through  her  trunk  for  an  intricate  piece  of 
knitting  work  which  she  had  begun  two  years  be- 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  7 1 

fore.  It  had  been  intended  for  a  Christmas  pres- 
ent, and  she  had  brought  it  with  her  intending  to 
finish  it  before  another  Christmas  or  perish  in  the 
attempt.  "  Don't  pay  any  attention  to  me,"  she 
warned.  "  There'll  be  places  where  I  have  to  stop 
and  count  stitches  and  fairly  wrestle  with  it,  but 
I'll  be  listening  in  spite  of  my  bodily  contortions." 

They  were  all  ready  at  last,  so  Betty  picked  up 
the  first  chapter  and  cleared  her  throat.  She  had 
been  anxious  to  read  her  novel  to  the  girls,  she  had 
been  so  sure  of  its  merit.  But  now  as  she  glanced 
down  the  page  she  was  assailed  by  misgivings. 
After  all  she  might  not  have  been  an  impartial 
judge,  and  maybe  it  wasn't  as  good  as  it  seemed 
to  her. 

"  You'll  recognize  some  of  the  incidents,"  she 
explained,  "  and  one  character  is  a  composite  por- 
trait of  three  Lloydsboro  people.  He  looks  like 
Mr.  Jaynes,  stutters  like  Captain  Bedel  and  has 
experiences  that  once  happened  to  Doctor  Shelby. 
I've  put  Miss  Marietta  Waring's  romance  into  it 
too." 

Betty  read  well.  She  loved  the  characters  she 
had  fashioned,  and  with  her  sympathetic  voice  to 
interpret  them,  they  became  almost  as  real  to  her 
listeners  as  they  were  to  herself.     Presently  the 


72      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

girls  began  to  exchange  approving  nods.  She 
watched  them  from  the  corner  of  her  eye.  Now 
and  then  there  were  low  murmurs  of  approbation 
at  some  particularly  pleasing  incident  or  turn  of 
expression,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  chapter 
there  was  outspoken  applause.  They  complimented 
enthusiastically  while  Betty  rested  and  took  breath 
for  the  next. 

As  she  felt  the  genuine  pleasure  she  was  afford- 
ing them,  all  her  fears  as  to  its  short-comings  fled. 
She  began  to  see  that  her  story  was  even  better 
than  she  had  thought  it.  She  saw  it  in  better  per- 
spective through  their  eyes.  Its  plot  moved  so 
smoothly.  There  was  more  life,  more  go  in  it  than 
she  had  been  conscious  of  in  her  solitary  readings. 
It  was  certainly  worth  all  the  painstaking  effort 
it  had  cost  her.  She  could  look  at  it  now  and  no 
longer  humbly,  but  confidently  call  it  good. 

When  in  one  scene  she  stole  a  furtive  glance 
around  to  note  the  effect,  and  caught  Lucy  stealthily 
slipping  out  her  handkerchief,  Gay  looking  up  with 
tears  on  her  lashes  and  Lloyd  with  the  peculiar 
tightening  of  the  lips  that  showed  she  was  trying 
to  swallow  the  lump  in  her  throat,  she  was  so  happy 
she  could  have  sung  for  joy.  She  read  on  and  on, 
and  they  forgot  the  rain  beating  against  the  win- 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  73 

d'ows,  forgot  everything  but  their  interest  in  the 
story. 

Lucy  pushed  her  darning  basket  aside  and  leaned 
back  in  her  chair,  her  hands  clasped  behind  her 
head.  The  work  over  which  Lloyd  had  been  bend- 
ing, dropped  in  her  lap  and  her  little  gold  thimble 
rolled  away  into  a  corner  unheeded.  There  was  a 
personal  interest  in  the  story  for  each  of  them. 
Lloyd  saw  herself  as  plainly  in  Betty's  heroine  as 
she  could  see  her  reflection  in  the  mirror  door  of 
the  huge  mahogany  wardrobe  opposite  her.  Some 
of  Kitty's  ridiculous  speeches  that  had  become  his- 
torical in  her  family,  found  a  place  here  and  there, 
and  once  Lucy  laughed  outright,  exclaiming,  "  Why 
that's  just  like  Gay !  You  must  have  been  thinking 
of  her  when  you  wrote  it." 

The  reading  went  on  without  interruption  until 
it  was  so  dark  that  Betty  had  to  hold  her  manu- 
script close  to  the  window.  "  I'll  ring  for  lights," 
thought  Lucy,  "  just  as  soon  as  she  comes  to  the 
end  of  this  chapter."  But  with  the  end  of  the  chap- 
ter came  Ca'line  Allison  with  a  message  from  the 
kitchen.    Lucy  started  up  in  dismay. 

"There!  I  forgot  all  about  that  salad.  How 
could  I  be  so  careless  when  I'm  to  have  a  real  live 


74      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

authoress  to  dinner?  I  was  so  interested  I  hadn't 
a  thought  for  anything  but  the  story." 

"  Such  appreciation  is  a  thousand  times  better 
than  salad,"  laughed  Betty,  so  jubilant  over  her 
triumph  that  her  eyes  were  full  of  a  happy  light. 
"  This  is  a  good  place  to  stop  until  after  dinner. 
I've  read  until  my  throat  is  tired." 

Lucy  hurried  down  stairs  to  hasten  the  dinner 
preparations,  in  order  that  they  might  get  back  to 
the  reading  as  soon  as  possible.  The  four  girls 
folded  their  work,  and  sat  in  the  twilight,  talking. 

"  What  does  this  make  you  think  of  ? "  asked 
Lloyd. 

"  I  know  what's  in  your  mind,"  answered  Kitty. 
"  I  was  just  about  to  speak  of  it  myself;  that  rainy 
day  at  Boarding  School,  when  Ida  Shane  read 
'  The  Fortune  of  Daisy  Dale '  to  us,  behind  locked 
doors.    Wasn't  it  thrilling?  " 

Gay  who  had  heard  the  incident  mentioned  many 
times  at  Warwick  Hall,  said  plaintively,  "  You 
girls  always  make  me  feel  that  I  have  missed  half 
my  life,  because  I  wasn't  with  you  when  Ida  Shane 
read  that  story.  I'd  certainly  like  to  get  my  hands 
on  such  a  wonderful  piece  of  literature." 

"  But  it  wasn't  wonderful,"  Betty  hastened  to 
explain.    "  It  made  that  deep  impression  on  us  sim- 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  75 

ply  because  it  was  the  first  novel  we  had  ever  read. 
It  was  sentimental  and  melodramatic  and  trashy 
as  we've  since  discovered,  but  then  it  seemed  all 
that  was  lovely  and  romantic.  It  gave  us  thrills 
up  and  down  our  spines  and  sent  us  around  with 
our  heads  in  the  clouds  for  days.  We  were  seeing 
embryo  Guy  Wolverings  in  every  boy  we  met.  As 
I  listened  to  Ida  I  thought  that  if  I  could  only 
write  a  book  that  would  hold  my  listeners  spell- 
bound as  that  held  us,  I'd  ask  no  more  of  life.  I 
could  die  happy." 

"  Well,  you've  done  it,  dear,"  said  Gay  warmly. 
"  We  scarcely  breathed  during  the  last  two  chap- 
ters, and  I'm  so  eager  to  know  how  it  ends  that 
I'd  willingly  cut  dinner  to  go  on  with  it." 

"  Now  how  does  that  make  you  feel,  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Lloyd  Lewis  ?  "  asked  Kitty  teasingly.  "  Fair 
uplifted,  I've  nae  doot." 

"  Yes,  it  does,"  was  the  honest  answer.  "  It's 
what  I've  hoped  for  and  worked  for  and  prayed 
for  these  last  ten  years.  Can  you  wonder  that  it 
makes  me  radiantly  happy  to  have  you  girls  think 
that  I  have  in  a  measure  succeeded  ?  " 

Dinner  was  announced  a  little  later,  and  when 
the  girls  went  into  the  dining-room,  they  found 
Lucy  herself  bringing  it  in. 


76     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Poor  Sylvia  had  another  message  from  home," 
she  explained,  "so  I  told  her  and  Ca'line  Allison 
to  go  on;  that  we'd  wait  on  ourselves  and  clear 
the  table,  and  they  could  wash  the  dishes  in  the 
morning.  It's  not  raining  quite  so  hard  now,  but 
it  is  dark  as  a  pocket  outside." 

As  she  placed  the  soup  tureen  on  the  table,  they 
heard  the  outer  kitchen  door  close,  and  Sylvia  turn 
the  key  in  the  lock. 

"  Ugh !  "  exclaimed  Lucy  with  a  shiver.  "  Now 
we're  abandoned  to  our  fate!  I  wish  you'd  pull 
that  window-shade  farther  down,  Gay.  There's 
just  room  for  somebody  to  peep  under  it,  and  there's 
nothing  more  terrifying  to  me  than  the  thought  of 
eyes  peering  in  at  one  from  the  outer  darkness." 

"  '  The  gobelins  will  git  you  if  you  don't  watch 
out,'  "  sang  Gay.  "  Do  for  pity's  sake  put  your 
mind  on  something  else,  Lucy,  and  don't  spoil  this 
festive  occasion  with  a  case  of  high  jinks !  " 

Seeing  that  their  little  hostess  was  really  nervous 
and  timid,  Kitty  began  to  divert  them  all  by  im- 
personating different  characters  in  the  Valley. 
She  was  a  fine  mimic,  and  kept  them  laughing  all 
through  the  first  course.  Lucy  carried  out  the 
plates,  and  hurried  back  with  the  second  course. 

"  You've  g-ot  to  get  the  salad  when  the  time 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  77 

comes,"  she  said  to  Gay.  "  It's  so  spooky  out  there 
in  the  kitchen  with  Sylvia  gone,  that  I  was  afraid 
to  look  over  my  shoulder.  Queer,  isn't  it!  For 
it's  just  as  warm  and  well-lighted  and  cheerful  now 
as  when  she  was  there.  I  wouldn't  go  into  the 
pantry  alone  for  a  fortune." 

"  Nonsense !  "  cried  Kitty.  "  Five  valiant  females 
are  enough  to  keep  any  Lloydsboro  foe  at  bay. 
We'll  be  your  brave  defenders." 

Gay,  who  had  risen  to  circle  around  the  table 
with  a  plate  of  hot  biscuit,  paused  dramatically 
beside  Lucy's  chair  to  say  in  a  stage  whisper, 
"Hist!  I  have  a  weapon  of  defence  ye  wot  not 
of.  One  that  a  doughty  knight  did  leave  behind 
him." 

"  Oh,"  said  the  literal  Lucy.  "  I  suppose  you 
mean  Mr.  Shelby's  boxing-glove  that  he  left  on 
the  piano,  when  he  came  in  yesterday  to  bring  you 
those  books.  It  was  awfully  funny,  girls,  the  way 
he  seemed  to  leave  it  by  accident.  I  couldn't  help 
laughing,  for  it  was  so  evident  he  did  it  on  purpose, 
to  have  an  excuse  to  come  again  sooner  than  he 
would  have  done  otherwise." 

Gay  smiled  knowingly.  It  was  not  a  boxing- 
glove  she  meant,  but  for  reasons  of  her  own  she 
did  not  enlighten  Lucy  as  to  the  kind  of  weapon 


78      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

she  had  in  reserve.  It  was  after  eight  when  they 
rose  from  the  table,  and  they  made  such  a  frolic 
of  carrying  out  the  dishes,  that  the  grandfather 
clock  on  the  stairs  chimed  the  half-hour  as  they 
finished. 

Before  Ca'line  Allison  left  she  had  started  a 
cheerful  blaze  in  the  fireplace  of  the  huge  living 
room,  for  the  night  was  chilly  as  well  as  damp.  But 
Lucy  partly  covered  it  with  ashes,  and  proposed 
spending  the  evening  up-stairs. 

"  Somehow  one  feels  so  much  safer  up-stairs 
when  there  are  no  men  in  the  house,"  she  explained. 
"  We'll  light  two  big  lamps,  and  that  will  make 
it  as  warm  and  cosy  as  if  we  had  a  fire." 

So  in  a  body  they  made  the  rounds  of  the  down- 
stairs rooms,  bolting  windows  and  locking  doors. 
Then  satisfied  that  every  entrance  was  securely 
fastened,  they  went  up-stairs  to  resume  the  read- 
ing. This  time  there  was  no  attempt  to  do  any 
needlework.  With  folded  hands  they  waited  in 
expectant  silence,  while  Betty  found  her  place.  But 
just  as  she  raised  the  sheet  of  paper,  the  great  door 
of  the  mahogany  wardrobe  swung  slowly  and 
stealthily  open.  Not  a  sound  did  it  make,  and 
there  was  something  so  ghostly  in  its  silent  undoing 
that  Lucy  gave  a  little  shriek  and  hid  her  face  in 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  7$ 

her  hands.  Each  one  of  them  acknowledged  to  a 
queer  chilly  sensation  just  for  an  instant,  even  Gay, 
who  explained  that  it  was  only  a  little  habit  that 
the  wardrobe  had.  "  I  don't  mind  it  in  the  day- 
time," she  added,  "  but  it  is  spooky  at  night  when 
everything  is  still  to  have  it  unexpectedly  pop  open, 
and  swing  out  with  that  slow  gliding  motion." 

"  It's  because  the  latch  is  worn  and  the  catch 
works  loose,"  said  matter-of-fact  Kitty,  who  had 
crossed  the  room  to  examine  it.  She  turned  the 
key.  "  Now  it  will  not  interrupt  us  for  awhile. 
Go  on  with  the  story,  Betty." 

Again  the  manuscript  was  raised  and  again  Lucy 
stopped  her  with  the  wail,  "  Oh,  Gay !  We've  for- 
gotten to  bring  up  the  silver  pitcher  and  Jameson's 
ladle.  I  put  them  on  the  dining-room  table  after 
I'd  washed  them,  and  then  marched  off  and  forgot 
them." 

"  Well,  I'll  go  down  for  them,"  volunteered  Gay. 
"  There's  no  use  in  your  doing  it  and  getting  an- 
other fit  of  shivers." 

"  The  other  three  sprang  up,  but  Gay  waved 
Betty  back. 

"  Save  your  breath  for  the  reading.  Kitty  and 
Lloyd  will  be  enough.    I  don't  mind  acknowledging 


80      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

that  I'll  be  glad  to  have  both  a  rear  and  a  van 
guard  going  through  that  dark  hall." 

Lighting  a  candle  and  holding  it  high  above  her 
head,  Lloyd  led  the  way  down-stairs.  Gay  was 
inwardly  quaking,  for  she  was  almost  as  timid  as 
her  sister,  but  the  fearlessness  of  her  two  compan- 
ions made  her  keep  up  a  pretence  of  bravery.  As 
the  three  pairs  of  little  heels  clattered  down  the 
dark  polished  steps,  Lloyd  and  Kitty  kept  time  in  a 
singsong  chant : 

"  There  was  a  man  and  he  had  naught 
And  robbers  came  to  rob  him. 
He  got  up  on  the  chimney  top 
And  then  they  thought  they  had  him. 
But  he  got  down  on  the  other  side 
And  then  they  couldn't  find  him. 
He  went  foztrteen  miles  in  fifteen  days 
And  never  looked  behind  him." 

It  was  almost  cruel  of  Kitty  to  seize  that  oppor- 
tunity to  tell  the  scariest  burglar  tale  that  she  had 
ever  heard,  but  a  fine  appreciation  of  dramatic  situ- 
ations urged  her  to  it. 

"  Ugh !  Don't !  "  begged  Gay,  as  they  filed  into 
the  dining-room  and  began  looking  around  for  the 
silver  heirlooms.  Lucy  was  mistaken.  It  was  the 
kitchen  table  on  which  she  had  left  them. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  8l 

"  The  goose-flesh  is  standing  out  all  over  me ! 
That's  the  most  gruesome  tale  I  ever  heard." 

"  But  I'm  in  the  most  interesting  part,"  insisted 
Kitty.  "  When  she  saw  the  black  face  leering  over 
the  transom  —  " 

"  Hush !  "  chattered  Gay.  "  I  won't  listen  to 
another  word.  It's  so  creepy  I  can  feel  things 
grabbing  at  my  ankles.  Let  me  have  the  candle  a 
minute,  please,  Lloyd,  I  want  to  get  something  out 
of  the  hat-rack  drawer." 

There  was  a  faint  glow  on  the  hearth  from  the 
few  embers  Lucy  had  left  uncovered,  and  the  two 
stood  within  it  as  they  waited  for  Gay  to  come  back 
with  the  candle.  Kitty  went  on  with  her  tale,  for 
Lloyd  was  as  fearless  as  herself.  She  did  not  get 
further  than  a  sentence  or  two,  however,  before 
Gay  came  hurrying  back.  To  their  astonishment 
she  blew  out  the  candle  as  she  reached  them,  and 
in  the  brief  glimpse  they  had  of  her  face  they  saw 
that  it  was  ghastly  white.  In  the  dim  glow  of  the 
embers  they  were  scarcely  visible  to  each  other. 
She  clutched  them  with  trembling  fingers. 

"  There's  some  one  prowling  around  the  house!  " 
she  whispered.  "  Some  one  was  creeping  around 
under  the  windows,  and  then  up  on  the  porch.     I 


82      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

heard  them  plain  as  day.  I  blew  out  the  light  so 
they  couldn't  see  in !  " 

"  Pooh !  "  began  Lloyd,  but  enough  of  Gay's  ex- 
citement had  been  communicated  to  both  her  lis- 
teners to  make  their  hearts  thump  a  little  faster, 
when  they,  too,  heard  a  noise  at  the  window.  There 
certainly  were  steps  on  the  porch.  Then  the  knocker 
on  the  front  door  was  lifted  and  a  hollow  clang 
echoed  through  the  hall. 

"  Burglars  don't  knock,"  said  Lloyd  with  a  sigh 
of  relief.  "  Let's  all  go  to  the  doah  togethah  and 
ask  who's  there.    We  needn't  open  it." 

"  No,  don't !  "  begged  Gay,  almost  in  tears.  "  It's 
just  like  that  awful  story  Kitty  started  to  tell  — 
the  knock  at  the  door,  the  lone  woman's  voice  an- 
swering, and  the  burglar  forcing  his  way  over  the 
transom!  Our  only  safety  is  in  keeping  perfectly 
still.  If  worst  comes  to  worst,  then  I'll  make  them 
think  there's  a  man  in  the  house,  but  I  won't  do 
it  till  I'm  driven  to  it." 

"  If  it's  one  of  the  neighbours  he'll  knock  again," 
said  Kitty. 

For  a  moment  they  waited,  their  hearts  in  their 
mouths,  as  they  remembered  what  a  lonely  place 
was  this  dark  beech  woods,  and  how  near  it  was 
to    Stumptown,   with   its   many   drunken   negroes. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  83 

The  knock  was  not  repeated,  but  the  steps  sounded 
as  if  the  intruder  were  prowling  back  and  forth  on 
the  porch.  Then  the  slats  of  the  window-shutters 
turned  stealthily. 

"  Thank  heaven  the  shades  are  down !  "  chat- 
tered Gay  hysterically.  "  Oh,  girls,  I'm  growing 
gray-headed.  I  can't  stand  this  suspense  another 
second."  Then  as  the  steps  once  more  crossed  the 
porch,  "  Cut  up-stairs !  Quick !  Both  of  you ! 
I'll  follow." 

She  darted  out  of  the  dim  circle  of  light  on  the 
hearth,  and  they  could  not  see  what  happened,  but 
almost  instantly  a  pistol  shot  rang  out.  Up  till 
that  moment  neither  Kitty  nor  Lloyd  had  been 
much  alarmed.  Now  they  clutched  each  other 
wildly. 

"  It's  some  crazy  man  escaped  from  the  Lake- 
land asylum,"  began  Kitty,  but  her  words  were  cut 
short  by  another  shot,  then  another  and  another  and 
another,  in  such  rapid  succession  that  they  lost 
count.  A  series  of  piercing  screams  from  Lucy, 
up-stairs,  made  their  blood  run  cold,  but  the  shrieks 
were  not  half  as  terrifying  as  the  sight  of  Gay 
staggering  back  out  of  the  hall.  As  they  sprang 
towards  her  she  leaned  against  them  limply. 


84      LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Is  she  shot?  "  gasped  Kitty  in  a  horrified  whis- 
per.    "  Oh,  where' s  the  light?  " 

With  shaking  hands  Lloyd  caught  up  the  daily 
paper,  left  lying  on  the  settle,  and  threw  it  on  the 
coals.  It  blazed  up  instantly,  and  by  its  light  she 
found  the  candle. 

;The  shrieks  were  still  going  on  up-stairs  and 
Betty  was  calling  out  frantically  to  know  what 
was  the  matter.  She  could  not  come  down  to  see 
for  herself,  for  Lucy  had  caught  her  in  a  hysterical 
grasp  and  was  holding  her  like  a  vise.  As  the  can- 
dle flared  up  something  fell  from  Gay's  nerveless 
hand  to  the  floor.  The  girls  looked  at  each  other 
in  blank  astonishment.  It  was  a  revolver.  Gay 
herself  had  fired  the  shots. 

Now  in  the  midst  of  their  bewilderment  they 
became  conscious  of  shouts  outside.  Some  one  was 
calling:  "Mrs.  Harcourt!  Miss  Melville!  Don't 
be  alarmed !     It's  only  Alex  Shelby !  " 

Recognizing  the  voice,  Lloyd  flew  to  open  the 
door,  candle  in  hand. 

"  Oh,  you  gave  us  such  a  scare!  "  she  began  in 
a  tone  of  relief.  "  We  thought  it  was  a  burglar 
doing  the  shooting.  We  nevah  dreamed  that  Gay 
had  a  revolvah." 

"  It  was  mine,"  explained  Alex,  laughing  so  that 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  8$ 

he  could  hardly  close  his  umbrella.  "  I  loaded  it 
for  her  and  loaned  it  to  her  yesterday,  but  I  had 
no  idea  it  would  come  back  at  me  in  that  boom- 
erang fashion.  She  popped  loose  and  shot  at  me 
bang  through  the  front  door.  The  first  shot  whis- 
tled just  over  my  head,  and  if  I  hadn't  dodged 
behind  a  post  I  surely  would  have  stopped  them 
all.     Hottest  welcome  I  ever  had." 

Then  as  he  came  on  in,  he  continued,  apologet- 
ically, "  I'm  mighty  sorry  I  gave  you  all  such  a 
fright.  I  ought  to  have  gone  away  without  knock- 
ing when  I  saw  there  was  no  light  down-stairs, 
but  I  knew  you  were  all  here,  and  it  was  so  early, 
I  never  dreamed  of  being  taken  for  a  burglar." 

He  kept  on  with  his  apologies  after  he  came  into 
the  hall,  but  Gay  was  not  there  to  hear.  Mortified 
that  she  had  been  so  rash,  and  horrified  by  the 
thought  of  how  serious  the  consequences  of  her  wild 
shooting  might  have  been,  she  could  not  face  him. 
At  the  first  sound  of  his  voice  she  ran  for  the 
stairs,  her  wild  dash  almost  upsetting  Lucy  and 
Betty  on  their  way  down.  When  repeated  callings 
failed  to  bring  her  back,  Kitty  went  up  to  look  for 
her  and  found  her  in  a  woebegone  heap  on  the  foot 
of  her  bed. 

"  Oh,  you  mustn't  take  it  to  heart  that  way,"  she 


86      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

said  soothingly,  in  response  to  Gay's  tearful  pro- 
tests that  she  could  never  look  him  in  the  face 
again,  never,  never!  That  he'd  always  think  what 
a  fool  she  was  and  how  near  she  came  to  killing 
him. 

"  Nonsense !  "  was  Kitty's  brisk  answer.  "  He 
insists  that  it  is  all  his  own  fault,  that  he  ought 
to  have  known  what  to  expect  when  he  called  on  a 
native  Texan.  He  says  he's  always  heard  that  they 
punctuate  their  remarks  with  bullets  and  will  shoot 
at  the  drop  of  a  hat.  Hereafter  he  will  herald  his 
approach  by  telephone  or  else  come  in  a  coat  of 
mail  warranted  to  turn  even  the  fire  of  a  Gatling 
gun.  He's  making  a  joke  of  it,  and  it's  silly  of  you 
not  to  do  the  same.  Get  up  this  minute  and  come 
down-stairs,  and  make  him  have  such  a  good  time 
that  he'll  gladly  risk  another  shooting  to  come 
again." 

It  was  a  long  time  before  Gay  could  screw  her 
courage  to  the  point  of  following  Kitty  meekly 
down-stairs,  and  in  the  meantime  Lucy  took  an 
effective  way  to  make  him  forget  his  inhospitable 
reception.  Her  chafing  dish  was  her  panacea  for 
many  ills.  She  had  tried  it  at  the  Post  too  many 
times  with  the  different  boys  who  flocked  there, 
not  to  know  its  full  value.   So  when  Gay  came 


UHE  WAS    BENDING    ANXIOUSLY    OVER    A    BUBBLING    SAUCEPAN. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  87 

into  the  room  she  found  Alex  already  being  in- 
itiated into  the  mysteries  of  candy-making.  With 
a  white  apron  tied  around  his  waist,  and  a  big 
spoon  in  his  hand.,  he  was  bending  anxiously  over 
a  bubbling  sauce-pan. 

Heretofore  his  calls  at  the  Cabin  had  been  of 
the  most  formal  kind;  but  this  little  escapade  was 
doing  more  to  further  their  acquaintance  and  put 
him  on  the  same  privileged  footing  that  the  boys 
at  the  Post  enjoyed,  than  dozens  of  casual  meet- 
ings could  have  done.  It  was  a  novel  experience  to 
Alex,  and  he  made  the  most  of  it,  exerting  himself 
to  be  entertaining,  in  hopes  of  having  the  occasion 
repeated. 

After  the  first  painful  moment  of  greeting  and 
apology,  Gay  subsided  into  a  corner  of  the  old  set- 
tle, but  she  did  not  stay  there  long.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  resist  the  infection  of  Alex's  high  spirits. 
When  the  reaction  began  it  swung  her  to  the  far- 
thest extreme,  into  an  irresistible  gale  of  merriment. 

Betty's  thoughts  turned  regretfully  to  the  manu- 
script up-stairs.  She  was  sorry  that  the  reading 
had  been  interrupted.  She  knew  the  girls  would 
have  gained  a  better  impression  of  the  book  if  they 
could  have  heard  it  without  this  interruption. 
There  was  no  telling  when  there  would  be  an  oppor- 


88      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

tunity  to  finish  it  as  good  as  this  would  have  been. 
Once  she  had  a  hope  that  Alex  would  not  stay  long 
and  that  there  would  still  be  time  to  finish  the  read- 
ing after  his  departure.  But  while  the  candy 
cooled  Gay  started  Lloyd  and  Alex  to  singing 
duets,  she  and  Kitty  accompanying  them  with 
violin  and  piano,  and  she  knew  that  it  was  useless 
to  hope  any  longer.  So  she  settled  down  to  enjoy 
the  sweets  and  the  music  as  heartily  as  the  rest  of 
them. 

In  one  of  the  pauses,  while  they  were  searching 
through  a  pile  of  songs  for  some  duet  they  wanted, 
Lloyd  crossed  over  to  the  settle  where  Lucy  was 
sitting  beside  the  candy,  and  helped  herself  to  a 
piece. 

"  I'm  sorry  Leland  is  missing  this,"  said  Lucy. 
"  It  was  a  time  like  this  that  gave  him  his  nickname 
of  '  Brer  Tarrypin.'  He  used  to  be  devoted  to 
candy-pulls,  and  came  up  to  the  Post  ever)?-  time  he 
thought  we  were  going  to  have  one ;  and  he  always 
was  like  Brer  Tarrypin,  you  know,  in  the  Uncle 
Remus  stories." 

"  How  is  that  ?  "  inquired  Lloyd,  keenly  inter- 
ested. She  knew  the  Uncle  Remus  stories  by  heart 
and  wondered  in  what  way  this  one  had  been  ap- 
plied to  the  elegant  and  fastidious  Mr.  Harcourt 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  89 

"  Why,  you  know,  Brer  B'ar  he  helped  Miss 
Meadows  bring  the  wood,  Brer  Fox  he  mend  the 
fire,  Brer  Wolf  he  kept  the  dogs  off,  Brer  Rabbit 
he  greased  the  bottoms  of  the  plates  to  keep  the 
candy  from  sticking,  but '  Brer  Tarrypin  he  klum  up 
in  a  cheer  an'  say  he  watch  an'  see  dat  de  'lasses 
didn't  bile  over.'  The  boys  always  used  to  say 
that  the  only  part  in  the  game  Leland  would  take 
was  watching  the  lasses.  He'd  talk  to  their  girls 
while  they  did  the  work." 

Gay,  over  at  the  piano,  drew  her  brows  together 
in  a  little  frown.  She  wished  that  Lucy  would 
be  more  discreet  in  her  reminiscences,  for  she  felt 
that  Lloyd  was  already  prejudiced  against  Leland 
more  than  was  desirable.  She  called  out  suddenly, 
"  Sister,  can't  you  find  that  duet  for  us?  You  had 
it  last." 

Lucy  rose  obediently,  but  lingered  a  moment  to 
add,  as  Lloyd  laughed,  "  Leland  doesn't  mind  it 
a  bit.  The  boys  all  got  to  hailing  him  in  Uncle 
Remus  fashion,  '  Heyo,  Brer  Tarrypin,  wha'r  you 
bin  dis  long-come-short?'  and  he'd  answer  as  a 
matter  of  course,  '  Lounjun  roun',  Brer  Fox,  loun- 
jun  roun'." 

"  It's  mighty  interesting  to  know  the  history  of 
a  nickname,"  observed  Lloyd,  with  an  amused  smile, 


90      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

which  Gay  interpreted  as  meaning  that  this  bit  of 
history  was  being  tucked  away  for  future  use. 

It  was  late  when  Alex  went  home,  taking  his 
revolver  with  him.  He  would  be  staying  all  night 
near  by,  with  a  friend  of  his,  he  told  them,  and  if 
anything  else  frightened  them  they  were  to  tele- 
phone. He'd  come  post-haste  to  their  rescue. 
Then  he  made  the  rounds  of  all  the  down-stairs  win- 
dows and  doors,  seeing  that  each  was  properly 
fastened,  and  started  Lucy  on  her  way  up-stairs 
with  the  silver  pitcher  and  ladle  safe  in  her  hands. 
He  seemed  to  leave  the  sense  of  his  strong  pro- 
tecting presence  behind  him.  As  they  bolted  the 
door  and  heard  him  go  whistling  cheerily  down 
the  road,  Lucy  declared  enthusiastically :  "  He's 
a  nice  boy  and  he's  made  us  have  such  a  jolly  eve- 
ning that  I'm  all  wound  up  and  don't  feel  a  bit 
sleepy.  Let's  make  a  night  of  it  and  hear  the  rest 
of  Betty's  story.  It  doesn't  make  any  difference 
if  it  is  nearly  midnight.  We  can  sleep  as  late  as 
we  please  in  the  morning,  for  Jameson  isn't  here, 
and  we  won't  have  to  consider  his  convenience." 

For  once  they  were  of  the  same  mind,  all  loath 
to  go  to  bed.  So  Betty  slipped  into  a  borrowed 
kimona,  shook  down  her  hair  and  settled  herself 
comfortably  in  a  cushioned  chair  beside  the  lamp. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  91 

"  If  they  keep  awake  to  the  end,"  she  thought, 
"  that  will  be  a  good  test.  I'll  know  then  that  it 
has  real  interest  and  I'll  not  be  afraid  to  give  it  to 
the  public."  So  she  kept  an  anxious  watch  out  of 
the  corner  of  her  eye,  intending  to  stop  at  the  first 
sign  of  weariness.  But  the  attention  of  her  audi- 
ence was  as  profound  as  it  had  been  during  the 
afternoon.  Stifling  an  occasional  yawn  herself, 
she  read  on  and  on.  It  was  half -past  two  when 
she  laid  aside  the  last  page  of  her  manuscript  and 
looked  up  timidly  to  receive  the  verdict.  Lloyd 
spoke  first. 

"  Betty  Lewis,  it's  perfectly  splendid !  I'm  so 
proud  of  you  —  I've  always  been  suah  you'd  make 
a  name  for  yoahself  some  day,  but  I  nevah  dreamed 
you'd  do  it  so  early  in  life,  at  only  twenty !  " 

"  I  haven't  made  it  yet,  you  know,"  Betty  re- 
minded her  smiling.  "  My  friends  may  be  willing 
to  '  pass  my  imperfections  by,'  but  I've  still  to  run 
the  gauntlet  of  the  critics." 

There  was  a  chorus  of  protests  from  the  other 
girls,  and  Betty's  heart  grew  warm  as  she  listened 
to  their  cordial  praise  and  predictions  of  success. 

"  I'm  dying  to  have  a  finger  in  the  launching  of 
this  little  bark,"  said  Gay.  "  Let's  wrap  it  up  to- 
night and  have  it  all  ready  to  sen4  off  in  the  morn* 


92      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ing.  It  would  be  so  fine  to  be  able  to  brag  to  ray 
grandchildren  that  /  helped.  I  have  a  strong  flat 
box  just  the  size  of  the  manuscript.  I'm  sure  it 
will  fit  it  exactly.     Wait  and  I'll  go  and  get  it." 

She  ran  out  of  the  room,  and,  while  she  rum- 
maged through  a  trunk  to  find  it,  Lucy  climbed  up 
on  a  chair  to  look  on  the  wardrobe  shelf  for  some 
heavy  wrapping-paper  which  she  had  folded  away. 

"  Let  me  have  some  part  in  it  too,"  cried  Kitty. 
"  Although  I've  no  idea  what  it  can  be  when  I'm 
so  far  from  the  source  of  supplies.  Oh,  I  know 
now,"  she  said  after  an  instant's  thought.  "  You'll 
need  a  string  to  tie  around  the  box.  Here's  some- 
thing that  will  do." 

Opening  the  wicker  satchel  she  had  brought  with 
her  she  took  out  a  dainty  nightgown.  It  was  the 
work  of  only  a  moment  to  slip  out  the  fresh,  new 
pink  ribbons  that  had  been  run  through  the  lace 
beading. 

"  Now  let  me  tie  it !  "  she  insisted.  "  See  what 
an  artistic  bow  I  can  make !  " 

When  the  manuscript  had  been  placed  in  Gay's 
box,  tied  with  Kitty's  ribbon  and  wrapped  in  Lucy's 
paper,  it  was  gravely  handed  over  to  Lloyd,  who 
had  suggested  that  as  it  was  to  be  sent  by  express 
it  ought  to  be  sealed. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  93 

"  There's  a  stick  of  sealing-wax  in  the  drawer 
of  the  library  table,"  said  Lucy,  "  if  anybody's 
brave  enough  to  go  down  and  get  it  at  this  '  wee 
sma'  hour.'    It  must  be  nearly  three  o'clock." 

Before  she  had  finished  her  sentence  Lloyd  had 
lighted  a  candle  to  carry  down-stairs.  She  was 
back  in  a  moment.  They  all  stood  around  in  a 
circle  while  she  melted  the  red  wax  in  the  heat  of 
the  candle.  "  Somebody  ought  to  say  an  abra- 
cadabra charm  ovah  it,"  she  suggested.  "  You  do 
it,  Kitty."  Then  she  looked  around  her  helplessly. 
"  What  am  I  going  to  do  for  a  seal  ?  Quick,  some- 
body, hand  me  something  off  the  dressing-table. 
The  stoppah  of  that  vinaigrette  will  do." 

Before  Lucy  could  hand  her  the  bottle  Gay  caught 
up  the  old  silver  ladle  and  pressed  the  end  of  its 
handle  down  on  the  soft  wax. 

"  There's  a  crest  on  it,"  she  explained,  holding 
it  firmly  in  place.  "  The  motto  will  read  back- 
wards, but  that  won't  make  any  difference. 
There !  "  She  lifted  the  ladle,  and  they  all  crowded 
around  to  see  the  clear-cut  impression  left  in  the 
red  wax,  of  a  dagger  thrust  through  a  crown.  The 
tiny  reversed  letters  of  the  motto  were  undecipher- 
able, but  Gay  translated  them. 

"  Jameson  says  it's  the  Latin  for  '  I  strive  till 


£4     LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

I  overcome/  and  that's  a  fine  war-cry  for  Betty. 
She's  striven  so  long  it's  bound  to  bring  a  crown, 
only  that  other  thing  ought  to  be  a  pen  instead  of 
a  dagger." 

"  Let  me  put  one  seal  on,  just  for  luck,"  begged 
Kitty  when  Lloyd  had  carefully  fastened  both  ends 
of  the  package.  She  held  the  wax  to  the  flame. 
"  Everybody  make  a  wish,"  she  ordered.  "  Wish 
hard." 

They  wished  in  silence.  In  silence  they  looked 
on  while  Kitty  dropped  the  third  red  drop  on  the 
package  and  pressed  into  it  the  crown  and  the  dag- 
ger of  the  ladle's  crest.  Then  they  stood  over 
Betty  while  she  addressed  it  to  the  publisher  to 
whom  long  ago  she  had  decided  to  send  it.  Then 
Gay  laid  it  solemnly  beside  the  silver  heirlooms  as 
one  of  the  things  "  to  be  carried  out  first  in  case 
of  fire." 

"  Three  o'clock  and  all  is  well,"  called  Kitty  as 
the  chime  on  the  stair  began  its  warning.  "  The 
deed  is  done  and  all  the  omens  are  auspicious." 

"  That  will  be  a  scene  to  remember  always," 
thought  Betty  gratefully,  looking  around  at  the  four 
pretty  girls  in  the  candlelight,  as  they  made  a  cere- 
mony of  the  launching  of  her  little  ship,  their  faces 
filled  with  loving  interest. 


BETTY'S  NOVEL  9$ 

The  chickens  were  crowing  for  daylight  before 
she  fell  asleep,  for  she  could  not  hinder  her  happy 
thoughts  from  straying  off  to  the  future,  when  this 
same  little  ship  should  come  home  from  sea  with 
its  cargo  of  fame  and  fortune  that  the  girls  had 
predicted.  She  had  dedicated  the  book  simply 
"  To  my  Godmother,"  and  she  pictured  to  herself 
the  supreme  moment  when  she  could  lay  the  pub- 
lished volume  in  her  hands.  She  would  send  one 
to  Madam  Chartley,  she  decided,  and  one  to  Miss 
Chilton,  whose  instructions  in  English  had  been 
such  an  inspiration  to  her.  Then,  of  course,  each 
one  of  the  girls  must  have  one. 

Strangers  would  write  to  her,  people  would  thrill 
with  pleasure  over  her  pages  as  she  had  thrilled 
over  other  authors,  and  —  oh,  yes !  Davy  must 
have  one  of  the  very  first  copies  of  the  book,  since 
he  had  been  the  first  lover  of  her  stories.  She 
almost  sat  up  in  bed  in  the  excitement  of  her  next 
thought.  She  wondered  why  it  never  had  occurred 
to  her  before.  If  the  book  should  be  really  suc- 
cessful it  would  bring  her  money  of  her  own.  She 
could  be  the  good  fairy  of  the  Cuckoo's  Nest.  How 
many  comforts  she  could  slip  into  it  to  make  life 
easier  for  poor  tired,  over-worked  cousin  Hetty! 
And  —  Davy  could  go  away  to  school! 


96      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

That  last  thought  sent  a  warm  glad  tingle  over 
her.  How  good  God  had  been  to  give  her  this  de- 
lightful way  of  making  a  Road  of  the  Loving  Heart 
in  every  one's  memory  —  with  her  pen!  She  felt 
that  her  whole  life  ought  to  be  a  perpetual  Thanks- 
giving, and  when  she  fell  asleep  with  a  smile  on 
her  lips,  she  was  repeating  drowsily :  "  My  lines 
have  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant  places.  Yea,  I  have 
a  goodly  heritage." 


CHAPTER   V 

A    CAMERA    HELPS 

Several  days  after  his  return  from  Lexington, 
Leland  Harcourt  sauntered  out  of  the  house,  after 
a  late  breakfast  alone.  The  bored  expression  on 
his  face  showed  plainly  what  he  thought  of  the 
Valley  as  a  summer  resort.  His  brother  and  Lucy 
were  off  somewhere  about  the  grounds,  and  for 
more  than  an  hour  the  faint  sound  of  Gay's  violin 
had  been  floating  up  from  the  rustic  arbour,  which 
she  claimed  as  her  private  domain. 

It  was  a  pleasant  little  retreat,  far  back  from  the 
road  in  the  dense  beech  shade,  and  at  such  a  dis- 
tance from  the  house  that  her  energetic  practising 
could  disturb  no  one.  Here  every  morning  before 
the  distractions  of  the  day  began,  she  religiously 
devoted  an  hour  to  her  music.  The  time  always 
slipped  past  that  limit  if  no  one  came  to  stop  her, 
for  an  absorbing  devotion  to  her  work  made  her 
oblivious  to  everything  else  when  her  beloved  violin 

was  once  tucked  under  her  chin.     Scales  and  trills 

97 


98      LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

and  chords,  all  the  finger  exercises  that  kept  her 
touch  supple  and  sure,  were  gone  through  with  in 
faithful  routine.  Then  the  new  music  she  was 
mastering  had  its  share  of  careful  attention,  and 
after  that  she  played  on  and  on,  as  a  bird  sings, 
from  sheer  love  of  it. 

She  was  improvising  when  Leland  came  out  on 
the  porch,  a  light  rollicking  little  tune,  to  fit  a  verse 
from  an  Uncle  Remus  song.  It  was  a  verse  which 
Alex  Shelby  had  repeated  as  he  escorted  them  over 
to  The  Beeches,  the  time  they  spent  the  night  there, 
the  next  night  after  their  burglar  scare  at  the  Cabin. 
Lucy  had  been  so  frightened  that  she  gladly  ac- 
cepted Mrs.  Walton's  invitation  to  stay  with  her 
until  the  men  of  the  family  returned. 

They  had  had  such  a  good  time.  Now  the  recol- 
lection of  it  was  finding  voice  in  the  tune  which 
Gay  was  trying  to  manufacture  for  the  words  which 
Alex  had  laughingly  sung  when  Lucy  stuck  in  the 
barb  wire  fence  on  the  way  over: 

"  Hop  light,  ladies,  Oh,  Miss  Loo, 
Hit  take  a  heap  er  scrougin' 
Fer  to  git  you  throo. 
Hop  light,  ladies,  oh,  Miss  Loo  !  " 

Gay  recalled  the  straggling  little  procession 
through  the  woods  with  a  smile,  as  her  bow  qua- 


A    CAMERA    HELPS  99 

vered  again  through  the  refrain.  They  must  have 
looked  ridiculous.  There  was  Lucy  lugging  the 
heavy  silver  pitcher  and  Jameson's  ladle  because 
she  was  afraid  to  leave  them  behind,  and  she  her- 
self with  her  violin  case,  and  Alex  carrying  the 
Lindsey  spoons  and  forks  and  the  enormous  seven- 
branched  silver  candle-sticks,  because  Lucy  felt  re- 
sponsible for  their  safety,  since  she  had  rented 
them  with  the  house.  And  there  was  Ranald  bring- 
ing up  the  rear  with  their  suit-cases,  and  Kitty 
laughing  at  them  all  for  bringing  these  household 
gods.  She  called  Lucy  "  Ephraim  joined  to  his 
idols,"  because  she  would  not  put  down  the  pitcher 
and  ladle  even  while  she  crawled  through  the  barb 
wire  fence.  They  had  cut  across  lots  in  the  twi- 
light, instead  of  going  around  by  the  road,  not 
wanting  to  be  seen  with  a  load  which  looked  so 
much  like  burglar's  booty. 

"  If  Leland  only  could  have  been  with  us  then !  " 
thought  Gay  regretfully.  "  And  the  night  before 
that  when  we  had  such  a  jolly  time  with  the  taffy 
and  the  duets.  He  would  have  been  on  a  real 
friendly  footing  with  them  all  by  this  time.  But 
he's  beginning  to  find  it  dull.  I  know  he  is.  He'll 
be  off  again  before  long  if  we  can't  get  him  inter- 
ested in  something." 


IOO   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  TCNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

While  she  was  worrying  over  his  evident  rest- 
lessness and  discontent,  the  odour  of  his  cigar  came 
floating  out  to  her,  and  she  knew  by  that  token  that 
he  had  finished  breakfast  and  needed  to  be  amused. 
Locking  her  violin  in  its  case,  she  carried  it  back  to 
the  house,  prepared  to  shoulder  her  share  of  this 
responsibility. 

"  Good  morning,  Brer  Tarrypin,"  she  called  as 
she  came  in  sight  of  him  lolling  in  the  hammock. 
"Lounjoun'  roun'  as  usual,  I  see.  Well,  the  mail 
train  is  in,  so  you  can  come  with  me  to  the  post- 
office  as  soon  as  I  get  my  hat." 

"  Good  heavens,  Pug !  "  he  groaned.  "  I  vow 
you're  worse  than  a  little  volcano  —  always  in 
action." 

Nevertheless  he  got  up,  as  she  knew  he  would, 
and  strolled  along  beside  her.  The  road  in  front 
of  the  post-office  was  almost  blocked  with  carriages. 
On  summer  mornings  like  this  nearly  every  one  in 
the  Valley  found  some  excuse  to  be  at  the  station 
when  the  mail  train  came  in ;  for  while  they  waited 
for  the  delivery  window  to  open,  there  was  time 
not  only  to  attend  to  the  day's  marketing,  but  to 
meet  all  one's  friends.  At  such  times  the  little  box 
of  a  post-office  was  the  very  centre  of  neighbour- 
hood sociability,  and  since  everybody  knew  every- 


A    CAMERA    HELPS  ioi 

body  else,  the  gathering  was  as  informal  as  a  family 
reunion. 

Even  Gay  felt  like  an  old  settler.  Her  previous 
visit  to  the  Valley  had  given  her  so  many  acquaint- 
ances. As  she  passed  down  the  straggling  line  of 
men  and  boys  who  were  leaning  against  the  fence 
or  sitting  on  the  top  rail  while  they  waited,  hats 
were  swept  off  as  if  a  sudden  breeze  had  scurried 
along  the  path.  Several  of  the  old  Confederate 
soldiers  spoke  her  name  as  they  saluted.  She  had 
played  for  them  up  at  the  Home  twice  on  that 
former  visit. 

"  Oh,  the  dear  little,  queer  little  Valley,"  she  be- 
gan, but  was  interrupted  by  Leland's  calling  her 
attention  to  the  Sherman  carriage,  which  was  mov- 
ing in  and  out  at  a  snail's  pace  through  the  blockade 
of  vehicles,  stopping  repeatedly  as  greetings  were 
called  out  to  it  from  the  other  carriages.  Gay's  face 
brightened  as  she  saw  Lloyd  on  the  back  seat,  look- 
ing as  fresh  as  a  snowdrop  in  her  white  linen 
dress. 

"  Oh,  if  she'd  only  ask  us  up  to  Locust  to  spend 
the  morning !  "  thought  Gay  so  earnestly  that  it 
seemed  to  her  that  Lloyd  must  feel  the  force  of  the 
"  thought- wave  "  she  was  trying  to  project,     "  It's 


102    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

high  time  for  her  to  remember  her  promise  if  she 
expects  to  accomplish  anything." 

Lloyd  was  remembering  her  promise.  It  re- 
curred to  her  the  instant  that  she  caught  sight  of 
Leland's  dark  interesting  face  as  he  turned  the 
corner.  As  instantly  she  had  looked  away,  remem- 
bering how  pointedly  he  had  ignored  her  that  night 
at  the  Cabin.  This  was  the  first  time  she  had  seen 
him  since.  Now  Gay's  request  seemed  utterly  ab- 
surd. The  colour  surged  up  in  her  face  as  she 
remembered  her  high  resolve  about  lighting  a  vestal 
fire  on  the  altar  of  a  promise.  How  ridiculous  of 
her  to  have  worked  herself  up  into  such  an  exalted 
mood  over  nothing.  A  positive  dislike  for  the  man 
who  had  been  the  cause  of  it  took  possession  of  her, 
and  she  wished  heartily  that  she  need  never  meet 
him  again. 

But  an  encounter  could  not  be  avoided  long.  Gay 
was  pushing  eagerly  through  the  crowd  towards  the 
carriage.  She  would  call  her  in  a  moment,  then  she 
would  have  to  turn  around  and  at  least  be  decently 
polite.  Just  then  a  stylish  little  runabout  stopped 
opposite  the  carriage,  and  a  lady  leaned  out  to  ac- 
cost Lloyd.  Thankful  for  the  opportunity,  Lloyd 
turned  her  back  squarely  on  the  post-office  and 
plunged  into  an  animated  conversation.     Without 


A    CAMERA    HELPS  XO^ 

glancing  in  their  direction  she  was  conscious  that 
Gay  and  Mr.  Harcourt  were  on  the  curbstone  di- 
rectly behind  her,  and  would  come  up  the  moment 
that  she  stopped  talking. 

"  Yes,  of  co'se,  Miss  Jennie,"  they  heard  her  say. 
*  I'm  going  to  town  on  the  next  car,  and  I'll  be 
glad  to  get  it  for  you.  Yes,  we're  all  going  in  for 
a  day's  shopping.  Mothah  and  Betty  are  ovah  at 
the  trolley  station  now,  waiting  for  me  to  get  the 
mail." 

Miss  Jennie,  giving  voluble  directions,  began 
hunting  through  her  pocketbook  for  a  sample  of 
ribbon  which  she  wanted  matched.  Gay's  hopes 
fell.  She  had  counted  confidently  on  taking  Leland 
up  to  the  Locusts  to  spend  the  morning.  But  just 
then  Lloyd  waved  her  handkerchief  to  some  one 
coming  down  the  avenue,  and  turning,  Gay's  face 
brightened.  It  was  Kitty  Walton  to  whom  Lloyd 
had  waved.  Strolling  along  under  a  white  parasol, 
in  a  pale  pink  dress  and  with  a  great  bunch  of  sweet 
peas  in  her  hand,  she  looked  so  attractive,  that  Gay 
felt  that  Leland  would  find  The  Beeches  fully  as 
entertaining  a  loafing-place  as  The  Locusts.  She 
decided  to  take  him  up  there.  Again  she  was 
doomed  to  disappointment,  for  Kitty's  cordial  greet- 
ing was  followed  by  the  almost  breathless  announce- 


104   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ment  that  she  was  about  to  take  her  departure  from 
the  Valley. 

"Oh,  when?"  called  Lloyd,  turning  to  the  girls 
with  the  friendliest  of  smiles,  and  acknowledging 
Mr.  Harcourt's  greeting  with  a  frosty  little  bow. 
"  When,  where  and  whyfoah?  " 

"  This  evening,"  answered  Kitty,  "  over  to  the 
Martinsville  Springs  in  Indiana,  and  because  mother 
is  firmly  convinced  that  they  are  the  panacea  for  all 
the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  Really  they  do  help  her 
wonderfully,  and  she  needs  the  change,  and  I  like 
the  place  myself  so  I'm  not  sorry  to  go  for  some 
reasons.  But  I  do  hate  to  take  ten  whole  days  out 
of  your  visit,  Gay." 

"  You  can't  hate  it  half  as  much  as  I  do,"  an- 
swered Gay  gloomily,  who  had  not  overlooked 
Lloyd's  cool  little  bow  to  Leland.  For  Lloyd  to 
act  snippy  and  Kitty  to  be  away  ten  whole  days 
right  in  the  beginning  of  things  was  fatal  to  all 
her  plans. 

It  was  just  then  that  help  came  from  a  most  un- 
expected source.  Not  that  she  realized  then  that  it 
was  help,  but  weeks  afterward  she  traced  back  sev- 
eral important  things  to  that  small  beginning. 

Miss  Katherine  Marks  came  out  of  the  post-office 
with  a  handful  of  letters.     She  was  about  to  pass 


A    CAMERA   HELPS  I05 

the  group  beside  the  Sherman  carriage  with  only 
a  brief  "  good  morning,"  when  the  sight  of  Kitty's 
sweet  peas  made  her  pause. 

"  That  reminds  me,  Kitty,"  she  said.  "  I've  fin- 
ished mounting  that  garden  photograph.  You  may 
see  it  now,  whenever  you  come  over." 

"  I'll  come  right  now,  Miss  Katherine,"  was  the 
eager  response.  "  I'm  wild  to  see  it,  and  as  we're 
going  to  Martinsville  this  evening  this  will  be  my 
only  chance." 

Seeing  the  unspoken  wish  in  Gay's  eager  eyes, 
Miss  Marks  included  all  of  them  in  the  invitation. 
Lloyd  glanced  at  her  watch  and  excused  herself, 
finding  that  the  car  she  wanted  to  take  was  almost 
due.  She  would  have  to  hurry  to  reach  the  station 
she  said.  But  even  in  her  haste  she  noticed  that 
Leland  did  not  join  in  the  regret  which  the  others 
expressed,  and  grown  unduly  sensitive  in  regard 
to  his  opinion,  she  fancied  that  he  looked  pleased 
when  she  refused.  He  lifted  his  hat  perfunctorily, 
not  even  glancing  at  her  as  he  moved  away,  seem- 
ingly absorbed  in  adjusting  Kitty's  parasol,  which 
he  had  taken  possession  of,  and  was  holding  over 
her. 

Gay  walked  on  with  Miss  Marks.  Kitty  had  to 
stop  a  moment  at  the  Bisbee  cottage,  to  leave  the 


106   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

sweet  peas  with  a  message  from  her  mother.  Le- 
land  waited  for  her  at  the  gate. 

"What  is  this  you're  getting  me  into?"  he 
asked,  nodding  towards  Miss  Marks  and  Gay,  who 
were  almost  out  of  sight. 

If  he  had  asked  the  question  of  Gay  she  would 
have  explained  eagerly  that  they  were  on  their  way 
to  Clovercroft,  to  see  a  collection  of  amateur  photo- 
graphs which  had  taken  prizes  and  gold  medals  all 
over  the  country,  and  among  them  were  three  at 
least,  that  she  knew  he  would  want  so  desperately, 
that  he  would  fall  all  over  himself  trying  to  get 
them.  But  it  would  be  of  no  use  to  try.  He  could 
neither  beg,  borrow,  buy  nor  steal  them.  He  might 
thank  his  lucky  stars  that  he  was  permitted  just  to 
stand  afar  off  and  gaze  at  them  in  hopeless  admira- 
tion. 

But  Kitty,  instead  of  enlightening  him  in  any 
such  way  turned  the  talk  into  channels  of  more  per- 
sonal interest,  and  made  the  short  stroll  so  agreeable 
that  it  came  to  an  end  entirely  too  soon.  He  fol- 
lowed her.  through  the  gate  wishing  that  he  could 
invent  some  excuse  whereby  to  prolong  the  pleasure 
of  making  her  blush  and  seeing  her  dark  eyes  look 
up  laughingly  at  him  from  under  the  white  parasol. 
At  the  same  time  he  wanted  to  escape  the  bore  of 


A    CAMERA    HELPS  107 

being  expected  to  grow  enthusiastic  over  some  ama- 
teur collection  in  which  he  felt  no  interest. 

Something  of  this  he  expressed  in  an  undertone 
to  Kitty  as  they  stepped  up  on  to  the  porch. 

"  Don't  flatter  yourself,"  she  advised  him,  drop- 
ping into  a  seat,  "  that  you'll  be  allowed  a  peep  into 
Miss  Katherine's  studio.  Strangers  never  get  any 
farther  than  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles." 

"  Gay  has  gone  in,"  he  answered,  "  and  her  in- 
troduction antedates  mine  not  more  than  two 
seconds.     Why  shouldn't  I  ?  " 

"  Gay  is  one  of  the  elect.  She  has  the  artist  soul 
herself,  and  Miss  Katherine  recognizes  the  ear- 
marks." 

"  You  insinuate  that  I  haven't  them  ?  " 

Kitty  smiled  tantalizingly,  and  swung  her  parasol 
back  and  forth  by  its  ivory  crook.  "  No,  indeed. 
I'm  not  insinuating  anything.  I'm  simply  stating 
a  broad  truth.  You  can't  get  in.  She'll  bring  out 
dozens  of  pictures  for  your  inspection,  but  she'll  not 
invite  you  inside  that  studio.  Very  few  people  are 
so  favoured." 

Up  to  that  moment  he  had  not  had  the  faintest 
wish  to  set  foot  inside  the  studio,  but  her  provoking 
assertions  suddenly  seemed  to  make  it  the  one  desir- 
able spot  for  him  to  enter.    "  I'll  show  you,"  he  de- 


108    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

clared  rashly.  "I'll  see  it  before  we  leave  here.  I 
always  get  what  I  want.    Now  watch  me." 

Miss  Marks  came  out  with  a  large  photograph 
exquisitely  tinted.  So  artistic  it  was,  both  in  colour- 
ing and  composition,  that  Leland's  admiration  was 
as  great  as  his  surprise.  He  had  expected  to  see 
some  little  snap  shots  such  as  he  had  made  himself 
when  he  had  the  kodak  fever,  the  kind  that  are 
interesting  only  to  those  who  take  them  and  those 
who  are  taken.  This  was  so  beautiful  that  no 
sooner  was  it  in  his  hands  than  he  was  fired  with 
a  desire  to  possess  it.  It  was  the  picture  of  a  rose 
garden,  every  bush  a  glory  of  bloom,  and  in  the 
path,  her  pink  dress  caught  by  a  clinging  brier,  was 
Kitty  herself  like  another  rose,  looking  down  over 
her  shoulder  at  the  bramble  which  held  her  a  pris- 
oner in  its  thorny  clasp. 

"It  is  to  illustrate  a  fairy-tale,"  explained  Miss 
Marks.  "  When  naughty  Esmerelda  runs  away 
from  the  good  prince,  everything  in  the  garden  is 
in  league  to  help  him,  and  Brier  Rose  catches  at  her 
skirts  as  she  hurries  by,  and  holds  her  fast." 

"  Isn't  it  lovely?  "  cried  Gay,  flashing  out  of  the 
studio  with  an  armful  which  Miss  Marks  had  given 
her  permission  to  show.  "  Here's  Betty  taken  as 
a  nun  —  Sister  Dolor oso  - —  and  Lloyd  as  an  Easter 


A   CAMERA   HELPS  I09 

angel.  It's  perfectly  fascinating  to  hear  Miss  Marks 
tell  how  she  got  that  effect  of  flying.  Arranged  the 
draperies  with  Lloyd  lying  on  the  floor,  and  photo- 
graphed her  from  a  trap  door  above.  Tell  him  how 
you  added  the  doves'  wings  please." 

Much  to  her  surprise  Miss  Marks  found  herself 
telling  things  to  this  young  man  that  she  would  not 
have  dreamed  of  telling  to  another  stranger;  some 
of  the  remarkable  makeshifts  she  had  used  in  cos- 
tumes and  backgrounds.  His  flattering  air  of  inter- 
est drew  these  confidences  from  her  as  irresistibly 
as  a  magnet  draws  steel. 

"  You  ought  to  do  a  series  of  these  garden  pic- 
tures," he  declared,  "  and  call  them  '  Garden  Fan- 
cies '  after  that  poem  of  Browning's.  By  the  way, 
there  is  a  couplet  in  that  which  would  lend  itself 
charmingly  to  illustration,  and  I  saw  the  very  gar- 
den that  you  should  use  for  it,  while  I  was  out  driv- 
ing yesterday.  It  was  one  of  those  straight  walk 
prim  bordered  affairs  that  go  with  old  English 
cottages." 

He  could  have  found  no  surer  path  to  Miss 
Marks's  good  graces.  Gay,  not  knowing  that  he  had 
a  purpose  to  gain  by  it,  listened  in  amazement  as  he 
proceeded  to  outline  picture  after  picture  for  the 
series  of  Garden  Fancies,  even  planning  costumes 


IIO   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

and  suggesting  clever  means  by  which  various  ob- 
stacles might  be  overcome.  Her  astonishment 
showed  itself  in  her  face,  when  he  even  consented 
to  pose  himself,  as  a  Spanish  troubadour  in  a  moon- 
lit garden  with  a  guitar. 

Kitty,  who  knew  the  object  of  this  sudden  inter- 
est in  photography,  laughed  outright,  but  nobody 
noticed  her  irrelevant  mirth.  Miss  Marks  was  too 
interested  in  the  new  plan,  and  Gay  was  too  puzzled 
over  his  rapidly  growing  enthusiasm.  Presently, 
darting  a  triumphant  look  at  Kitty,  from  the  corner 
of  his  eye,  he  rose  to  follow  Miss  Marks.  She  was 
actually  taking  him  into  her  inner  courts.  Kitty 
made  a  little  grimace  behind  his  back.  She  resented 
his  I-told-you-so  air,  but  she  could  not  help  admir- 
ing the  masterful  way  in  which  he  had  gained  his 
end. 

One  hasty  glance  around  the  studio  changed  his 
assumed  interest  into  real.  Impressed  by  the  won- 
derful results  Miss  Marks  had  obtained  by  the  com- 
bination of  brush  and  camera,  he  was  seized  by  a 
wish  to  do  something  in  the  same  line  himself. 
Accustomed  to  the  impulsiveness  of  his  enthusiasms, 
Gay  was  not  surprised  when  he  began  to  persuade 
Miss  Marks  to  start  to  work  on  the  Garden  Fan- 
cies then  and  there. 


A   CAMERA   HELPS  in 

The  English  garden  was  too  far  away  for  them 
to  attempt  that  morning,  but  Miss  Marks  finally 
agreed  that  the  moonlight  scene  might  be  managed. 
It  was  just  the  right  time  of  day  to  take  a  moon- 
light picture,  while  the  sunshine  was  so  direct  that 
it  would  cast  the  blackest  of  shadows.  She  could 
retouch  the  plate  to  give  it  the  right  effect,  and  paint 
in  a  moon. 

"  You'll  have  to  hurry  if  I'm  to  be  in  it,"  ordered 
Kitty,  "  for  Mother  is  waiting  for  me  this  blessed 
minute.  I've  a  world  of  things  to  do  in  the  next 
few  hours." 

"  Give  us  just  a  quarter  of  one  of  them,"  begged 
Leland.  "  I'll  attend  to  the  balcony  part  if  Miss 
Marks  will  look  after  the  costumes  and  tell  me 
where  to  find  a  step-ladder." 

"  Leland  has  plenty  to  amuse  him  now,"  thought 
Gay  happily,  as  she  watched  him  giving  directions 
to  Frazer,  the  coloured  man,  who  came  in  answer 
to  Miss  Marks's  call.  "  His  foot  is  on  his  native 
heath  and  his  name's  '  McGregor  '  when  it  comes 
to  a  thing  of  this  sort." 

Ten  minutes  later  Kitty  found  herself  looking' 
out  of  an  improvised  balcony,  a  charming-  affair 
outwardly,  but  most  laughable  within.  A  tall  step- 
ladder  had  been  dragged  into  the  bay  window  of 


112    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

the  music  room,  and  the  upper  sash  of  the  middle 
window  pushed  down  from  the  top.  The  thick 
vines  that  grew  over  it  were  pulled  back  to  leave 
an  oval  opening.  It  was  out  of  this  leafy  oval  she 
leaned  from  her  seat  on  the  top  of  the  ladder,  to 
smile  down  on  the  troubadour  below.  There  was 
a  rose  in  her  dark  hair,  a  half-furled  fan  in  her 
hand,  and  a  coquettish  glance  in  her  laughing  black 
eyes. 

Leland's  costume  had  been  hastily  constructed 
from  scraps  of  stage  property  kept  for  such  occa- 
sions. It  took  but  a  moment  to  drape  a  long  cape 
over  one  shoulder  in  graceful  folds,  twist  a  piece  of 
velvet  into  a  little  cap  and  pin  a  white  plume  on  one 
side.  A  row  of  potted  plants  laboriously  put  in 
place  by  Frazer  hid  the  fact  that  he  wore  modern 
trousers  instead  of  the  more  picturesque  knee 
breeches  which  such  a  costume  demanded. 

"  Fire  away,"  he  ordered,  adjusting  the  guitar 
to  a  more  comfortable  position. 

"  Suppose  you  sing  a  verse  of  a  real  serenade," 
suggested  Miss  Marks,  "  so  as  to  get  into  the  proper 
spirit  of  the  thing.  Then  just  as  you  finish,  while 
you're  looking  soulfully  into  each  other's  eyes,  I'll 
squeeze  the  bulb." 

Kitty,  seeing  the  seamy  side  of  his  improvised 


A    CAMERA   HELPS  1 13 

cap,  and  feeling  the  absurdity  of  her  position  on  the 
top  of  the  step-ladder,  could  only  giggle  when  she 
tried  to  look  soulful.  But  Leland  had  taken  part 
in  too  many  private  theatricals  to  be  disconcerted 
now.  With  as  impassioned  a  gaze  as  any  Romeo 
ever  fixed  on  his  Juliet,  he  struck  the  soft  chords  of 
a  Spanish  serenade,  and  began  to  sing  so  meaningly 
that  Kitty's  giggle  was  silenced,  and  she  looked 
down  with  a  conscious  blush : 

"  Thine  eyes  are  stars  of  morning, 
Thy  lips  are  crimson  flowers. 
Good  night,  good  night,  beloved, 
While  I  count  the  weary  hours." 

"  There !  That  ought  to  be  perfect,"  cried  Miss 
Marks,  emerging  from  under  the  black  cloth  which 
covered  the  camera.  "  Mr.  Harcourt,  you're  the 
most  satisfactory  man  I've  ever  had  pose  for  me. 
It's  easy  enough  to  get  a  score  of  pretty  girls  any 
time  I  need  them,  but  it  isn't  once  in  a  decade  one 
finds  such  an  altogether  desirable  model  of  a  man. 
You  seem  to  know  by  intuition  exactly  the  right 
positions  to  fall  into.  I'm  sure  the  series  will  be 
a  success  now." 

Leland  bowed  his  appreciation  of  the  compliment, 
and   Gay,  knowing  his   vulnerable   spot   and  how 


II4   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

secretly  pleased  he  was,  could  have  danced  a  break- 
down in  her  delight. 

As  they  were  all  eager  to  see  the  result,  Miss 
Marks  took  herself  at  once  to  the  dark  room  with 
the  plate,  promising  they  should  have  a  proof  before 
time  for  the  Martinsville  train.  Then  Gay  and  Le- 
land  walked  home  with  Kitty,  and  stayed  talking 
awhile  on  the  shady  porch. 

"  It's  been  a  very  decent  sort  of  morning,"  Le- 
land  admitted  on  his  way  home  to  lunch.  A  siesta 
in  the  hammock  shortened  the  afternoon.  He  was 
in  a  most  agreeable  mood  when  they  drove  over  to 
the  station  to  see  the  Waltons  off  on  their  train. 

Better  than  her  promise,  Miss  Marks  had  sent  a 
finished  picture  instead  of  a  proof.  It  was  fully  as 
good  as  the  one  of  Brier  Rose  and  Esmerelda,  and 
Leland  was  enthusiastic  in  his  admiration  of  the 
balcony  he  had  improvised,  and  the  Spanish  beauty 
within  it.  When  it  had  passed  around  the  circle 
he  coolly  took  possession  of  it,  although  Kitty 
claimed  it,  as  Frazer  had  brought  it  up  to  The 
Beeches. 

"  I'll  keep  it  till  your  return,  Miss  Kitty,"  he  said. 
"  You  have  your  mirror,  so  you  don't  need  this.  It 
may  inspire  me  to  run  over  to  the  Springs  myself 


A   CAMERA   HELPS  115 

a  few  days  to  see  the  original  if  you  stay  away  too 
long." 

Something  in  the  light  tone  made  Gay  glance  up 
quickly.  She  groaned  as  she  saw  the  admiration 
his  expressive  eyes  showed  so  plainly. 

"  Now  he's  gone  and  done  it !  "  she  thought  in 
dismay.  "  He's  taken  a  fancy  to  Kitty  instead  of 
Lloyd,  when  I've  set  my  heart  on  saving  Kitty  for 
Frank  Percival.  May  blessings  light  on  those  old 
Martinsville  Springs  for  taking  her  out  of  the  way 
for  awhile!  Maybe  I  can  get  him  switched  off  on 
the  other  track  before  she  comes  back." 


CHAPTER  VI 

"  GARDEN    FANCIES  " 

"  Oh,  where  are  you  going,  my  pretty  maid  ?  " 
It  was  Alex  Shelby  who  called  out  the  question, 
leaning  forward  from  the  doctor's  buggy,  to  look 
down  the  locust  avenue.  Lloyd  was  coming  toward 
the  gate,  swinging  a  hunter's  horn  back  and  forth 
by  its  green  cord.  She  waved  it  gaily  as  she  sang 
in   response : 

"  I'm  going  a  posing,  sir,  she  said." 

He  turned  the  wheel  and  sprang  out,  asking 
eagerly,  "  Is  it  anywhere  that  T  can  take  you?  " 

"  No,  you're  going  in  exactly  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, for  I'm  bound  for  the  spring  in  the  Lindsey 
woods.  Miss  Marks  asked  me  to  meet  her  there 
at  eleven  o'clock,  but  her  note  didn't  come  until 
aftah  mothah  had  gone  out  with  the  carriage." 

Alex  glanced  at  his  watch.     "  If  you  could  wait 

till  I  take  this  case  of  instruments  up  to  Uncle,  I 

could  drive  you  over  as  well  as  not.    It  would  detain 

116 


» GARDEN  FANCIES"  IIJ 

you  ten  minutes,  but  even  then  you'd  get  to  the 
Spring  much  sooner  than  if  you  were  to  walk." 

"  I'll  certainly  accept  yoah  offah/'  exclaimed 
Lloyd  gratefully,  looking  down  the  long  hot  way 
that  lay  between  her  and  the  Lindsey  woods. 

"  No,  I'll  not  drive  ovah  to  the  doctah's  with  you, 
thanks.  That  is  such  a  hot,  dusty  stretch  of  road. 
I'll  just  sit  heah  in  the  shade  and  wait."  Laying 
the  hunter's  horn  on  the  stone  bench  near  the  gate, 
she  sat  down  beside  it  and  began  to  fan  herself  with 
her  hat. 

"What's  going  on  at  the  spring?"  he  asked  as 
he  climbed  back  into  the  buggy. 

"  I  can't  tell  you.  All  I  know  is  that  old  Frazer 
came  up  with  a  note  asking  me  to  pose  as  Olga,  the 
Flax-spinnah's  maiden.  Miss  Marks  is  always 
illustrating  some  old  fairy-tale.  She  wanted  me  to 
bring  grandfathah's  hunting  hawn  for  the  prince. 
I've  been  wondering  evah  since  who  she's  found  to 
take  that  paht." 

"  Harcourt,  I'll  bet  you  anything ! "  was  Alex's 
emphatic  answer  as  he  gathered  up  the  reins.  "  I 
saw  him  over  at  Clovercroft  yesterday  morning, 
setting  up  a  tripod  in  front  of  the  bay  window 
Well,  here  goes.    I'll  be  back  in  ten  minutes." 

As  Llovd  watched  the  cloud  of  dust  whirling 


Kl8   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

along  behind  the  rapidly  disappearing  buggy,  the 
impulse  seized  her  to  call  out  after  him  that  he 
needn't  come  back  to  take  her  to  the  spring,  for 
she  was  not  going.  Several  times  that  morning  the 
suspicion  had  crossed  her  mind  that  Miss  Marks's 
new  model  might  prove  to  be  Leland  Harcourt,  and 
Alex's  emphatic  answer  seemed  to  confirm  her  mis- 
givings. If  that  were  the  case  she  felt  that  she  could 
not  possibly  go.  He  had  made  such  a  point  of 
avoiding  her  that  night  at  the  Cabin,  that  even  Betty 
had  noticed  it,  and  she  was  very  sure  she  didn't 
want  to  have  her  picture  taken  with  a  man  who  had 
showed  his  aversion  to  her  so  plainly  as  all  that.  It 
would  be  horribly  awkward,  she  thought,  if  Miss 
Marks  had  asked  him  to  pose  with  her.  He  would 
have  to  stoop  and  drink  out  of  her  hands  as  the 
prince  had  done  out  of  Olga's.  Of  course  he 
couldn't  refuse,  and  it  would  be  disagreeable  to  him 
and  embarrassing  to  her,  knowing  as  she  did  how  he 
felt  towards  her. 

It  was  unlike  Lloyd  to  be  sensitive  over  little 
things,  and  to  magnify  trifles,  and  she  had  been  un- 
happy for  several  days  because  she  had  done  so  in 
this  instance.  If  she  had  met  Leland  Harcourt  like 
any  other  stranger,  she  would  not  have  given  his 
manner  toward  her  a  second  thought;  but  Gay's 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  Iig 

piea  beforehand  in  his  behalf  made  her  self-con- 
scious. Of  course  he  couldn't  possibly  know  that  she 
had  lain  awake,  looking  at  the  stars,  picturing  her- 
self as  a  sort  of  guardian  angel,  who  should  lead 
him  to  great  heights  of  achievement  (as  Gay  had 
assured  her  she  could  do).  But  she  felt  that  he 
must  have  divined  her  intentions  toward  him,  and 
was  secretly  amused  at  her  presumption.  Her  face 
burned  every  time  she  thought  of  the  regal  manner 
in  which  she  had  swept  into  the  room,  trying  to 
make  her  entrance  impressive,  and  then  the  polite 
way  in  which  he  had  handed  her  over  to  some  one 
else  as  if  she  were  a  mere  child  to  whom  he  must  be 
civil,  but  whose  school-girl  prattle  bored  him. 

"  I  can't  beak  him !  "  she  said  in  a  disgusted  tone 
to  a  black  ant,  which  was  crawling  along  towards 
the  stone  bench  where  she  sat.  But  the  little  ant, 
intent  on  its  own  affairs,  hurried  past  her  as  un- 
heedingly  as  if  she  had  been  part  of  the  bench. 

"  And  I  suppose  my  opinion  is  of  no  moah  im- 
pawtance  to  him  than  it  is  to  you,"  she  added,  with 
a  shrug  of  the  shoulders.  Then  she  laughed,  for  the 
comparison  suddenly  seemed  to  put  the  affair  in  a 
different  light. 

"  I'm  certainly  glad  you  happened  along  this  way, 
Mistah  Ant,"  she  said,  bending  over  to  stop  him 


120    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

with  a  stick  while  she  made  her  whimsical  speech. 
"  Because  I'm  going  to  profit  by  yoah  example  from 
now  on.  Heah  me?  I'm  going  to  quit  worrying 
over  what  people  may  think  of  me  and  go  along 
about  my  business  just  as  you  are  doing.  You 
nevah  think  about  yoahself,  do  you!  You  don't 
even  know  that  you  have  a  self,  so  of  co'se  you  can't 
feel  slighted  and  sensitive." 

Lifting  the  stick  so  that  the  little  creature  might 
go  on  its  eager  way  again,  she  watched  it  disappear, 
and  then  began  idly  tracing  figures  in  the  dust  at  her 
feet. 

"  I  wish  I  had  an  enchanted  necklace  like  Olga's," 
she  mused,  recalling  the  old  fairy-tale  for  which 
she  was  soon  to  pose.  "  Not  one  that  could  give  me 
gorgeous  dresses  whenevah  I  repeated  the  charm, 
but  one  that  would  sawt  of  clothe  my  mind  —  put 
me  into  such  a  beautifully  serene  mental  state  that  I 
wouldn't  mind  slights,  and  would  be  as  unconscious 
of  self  as  that  little  old  ant." 

Then  a  surprised,  pleased  expression  lighted  her 
face,  as  a  sudden  recollection1  seemed  to  illuminate 
the  old  fairy-tale,  and  give  it  a  new  meaning. 

"  Why,  it's  like  that  lovely  verse  in  the  Psalms 
that  Miss  Allison  read  to  the  King's  Daughters, 
the  first  time  I  went  to  a  meeting  of  the  Circle. 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  121 

'  The  King's  Daughter  is  all  glorious  within.  Her 
clothing  is  of  wrought  gold.' "  Sentences  from 
Miss  Allison's  earnest  little  talk  of  long  ago  began 
coming  back  to  Lloyd  like  fragments  of  forgotten 
music.  Something  about  being  anointed  with  the 
"  oil  of  gladness "  and  wearing  garments  that 
smelled  of  myrrh  and  aloes  and  cassia  "  out  of  the 
ivory  palaces  whereby  they  have  made  thee  glad." 
Now  in  the  story  when  Olga  would  change  her 
gown  of  tow  to  one  befitting  her  royal  station,  she 
had  only  to  clasp  a  bead  of  her  magic  rosary  and 
whisper : 

"  For  love's  sweet  sake,  in  my  hour  of  need, 
Blossom  and  deck  me,  little  seed," 

and  straightway  she  would  be  clad  in  a  garment, 
fine  and  fair  as  the  shimmer  of  moonbeams.  And 
Lloyd,  casting  about  in  her  mind  for  a  like  charm 
that  would  make  her  "  all  glorious  within  "  as  Olga's 
made  her  glorious  without,  suddenly  bethought  her- 
self of  her  little  necklace  of  Roman  pearls.  She 
had  not  taken  it  back  to  school  with  her  in  her 
Senior  year,  for  she  felt  that  she  had  outgrown  its 
childish  symbolism.  She  could  "  keep  tryst  "  with 
life's  obligations  now  without  the  visible  reminder 
of  a  little  white  bead,  slipped  daily  over  a  silken 


122    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

cord.  Still,  it  had  helped  her  to  remember,  so  many 
times  in  the  past,  that  she  was  strongly  tempted 
to  try  the  efficacy  o>f  her  little  talisman  just  once 
more.  Glancing  at  her  watch,  she  saw  that  Alex 
had  been  gone  only  five  minutes.  Then  dropping  the 
stick  with  which  she  had  been  writing  in  the  dust, 
she  ran  lightly  up  the  avenue,  into  the  house  and  up 
to  her  room. 

"  Maybe  it  is  sawt  of  childish,"  she  thought  as  she 
opened  the  sandal-wood  box  and  clasped  the  rosary 
around  her  neck.  "  But  I  don't  care,  if  it  will  only 
help  me  to  remembah  not  to  be  snippy  and  sensitive 
and  to  go  about  my  business  like  that  little  black  ant. 
It's  funny  how  such  a  little  thing  started  me  on  the 
right  path." 

When  Alex  came  back  she  met  him  with  such  a 
shining  face  that  he  glanced  at  her  curiously.  "  You 
look  as  if  you  had  heard  good  news,"  he  said  as  he 
helped  her  into  the  buggy.    "  What's  happened  ?  " 

"Oh,  nothing,"  she  laughed.  "I've  just  been 
practising  my  paht  while  I  waited  for  you.  I'm  the 
Princess  Olga,  and  I've  gotten  rid  of  my  gown  of 
tow,  and  I'm  so  relieved  to  find  the  real  King's- 
daughtah  attire,  that  I'm  as  happy  as  a  June-bug." 

He  did  not  understand  her  allusion,  but  it  would 
have  made  no  difference  if  she  had  talked  to  him  in 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  1 23 

Greek,  with  that  charming  dimple  coming  and  going 
as  she  laughed.  It  was  a  pleasure  just  to  sit  and 
watch  her,  while  she  rattled  on  in  her  inimitable  way 
about  June-bugs,  wondering  how  happy  they  were 
anyhow,  and  why  people  chose  them  as  the  unit 
of  measurement  when  they  were  measuring  joy. 

Over  at  the  spring  while  they  waited  for  Lloyd 
to  come,  Miss  Marks  and  Leland  Harcourt  experi- 
mented at  picture-making  with  Gay  for  a  victim. 
Stretched  out  on  the  rocks  of  the  creek  bank,  with 
her  hands  lying  in  the  shallow  water  and  her  hair 
streaming  over  her  shoulders,  she  was  obligingly 
trying  to  obey  instructions  to  "  look  as  wet  and 
dead  as  possible." 

Lloyd  and  Alex,  coming  on  her  unexpectedly  as 
they  picked  their  way  up  the  ravine,  having  tied 
the  horse  where  the  woodland  road  ended,  were 
horrified  to  find  her  lying  there  so  limp  and  still. 
But  the  next  instant  Leland's  voice  sounded  some- 
where up  among  the  bushes :  "  That's  great,  Pug. 
Try  to  keep  the  pose  a  little  longer  till  we  get  one 
more  plate.  With  a  sea-gull  and  some  rolling  waves 
painted  in  in  the  background,  it  will  be  a  perfect 
copy  of  that  painting  I  saw  in  Brittany." 

*'  Well,  hurry,   please !  "   called  Gay  plaintively^ 


£24    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  I  can't  stand  it  much  longer.  The  sun  on  tay 
wet  face  is  burning  it  to  a  blister,  and  the  rocks  are 
cutting  my  elbow,  and  I  know  it's  a  spider  that's 
crawling  over  the  back  of  my  neck." 

Lloyd  gave  a  toot  of  the  hunter's  horn  to  warn 
them  of  their  approach  and  the  extra  plate  was 
never  made.  For  with  a  little  shriek  the  "  Drowned 
Fishermaiden "  scrambled  up  from  the  rocks  in 
embarrassed  haste,  and  when  she  caught  sight  of 
Alex,  fled  away  into  the  bushes  to  gather  up  her 
dishevelled  hair  and  otherwise  put  herself  to  rights. 
She  was  too  agitated  to  notice  Lloyd's  meeting  with 
Leland,  but  while  she  made  herself  presentable  the 
sound  of  laughter  floated  in  among  the  bushes  to 
her  most  reassuringly. 

"They're  laughing ■  at  me,"  she  thought,  "but  I 
don't  care  how  ridiculous  I  looked.  Anything  to 
break  the  ice  between  them  and  put  them  on  a 
friendly  footing." 

At  the  sight  of  Leland's  dark  face  with  its 
cynical,  slightly  amused  expression,  Lloyd's  resent- 
ment returned,  but  the  touch  of  the  little  necklace 
recalled  her  resolve.  "  I'll  not  be  snippy  and  sen- 
sitive," she  repeated  to  herself,  clasping  one  of  the 
beads  in  her  fingers  as  if  it  really  held  some  potent 
charm  to  help  her  change  her  mental  attitude, 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  1 25 

So  when  Gay  joined  them  she  found  that  Lloyd 
had  dropped  her  distant,  disdainful  manner  of  the 
day  before  and  was  her  own  sweet,  winsome  self 
It  was  with  a  sigh  of  relief  that  Gay  left  them  to 
the  discussion  of  poses  and  costumes,  and  turned  to 
Alex,  who  was  about  to  take  his  departure.  The 
one  word,  picnic,  was  enough  to  stop  him.  It  was 
what  he  had  been  hoping  for  ever  since  the  Har- 
courts  had  taken  the  Cabin.  Gay's  appeal  for  help 
set  him  to  work  with  the  zest  of  a  truant  school-boy. 

While  he  made  a  fire  and  carried  water  from 
the  spring,  Gay  emptied  the  baskets  they  had 
brought,  and  spread  the  contents  out  on  a  great  flat 
rock.  Then  while  the  water  boiled  for  the  coffee, 
and  the  potatoes  were  roasting  in  the  ashes,  she  sent 
him  to  look  for  a  wild  grape-vine. 

"  I  want  a  lot  of  grape-leaves  to  make  into  little 
baskets  to  serve  the  berries  in,"  she  told  him. 
"  And  bring  them  up  here  where  I  can  keep  an  eye 
on  what  is  going  on  at  the  spring.  There  seems  to 
be  a  hitch  in  the  performance  somewhere." 

The  difficulty  was  with  the  prince's  costume 
Nothing  they  had  brought  gave  quite  the  effect  they 
wanted,  so  finally  Leland  proposed  bringing  the 
story  down  to  date. 

"  The  modern  Princess  is  the  Summer  Girl,"  he 


t26    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RlEtlNG 

said.  "  So  take  Miss  Sherman  just  as  she  is,  and 
I'll  go  back  to  the  Cabin  and  put  on  a  bicycle  suit." 

"  They  are  getting  on  famously,"  thought  Gay 
as  she  listened  to  Lloyd's  merry  response  to  some- 
thing he  called  back,  as  he  went  crashing  away 
through  the  bushes.  The  last  little  basket  was  made 
and  filled  with  berries  before  Leland  came  back, 
dragging  his  wheel  up  the  ravine.  Gay  and  Alex, 
having  finished  their  preparations,  climbed  up  the 
bank  to  watch  the  pretty  tableau,  Lloyd  making  a 
cup  of  her  white  hands  and  catching  the  water  in 
them,  that  the  prince  might  stoop  and  drink. 

'"  Let's  try  it  again,  Miss  Marks,"  cried  Leland 
enthusiastically.  "  How  is  this  pose?  "  He  dropped 
gracefully  to  one  knee,  baring  his  head  as  he  bowed 
it  over  Lloyd's  hands. 

"  Is  the  change  in  him  or  is  it  in  me?  "  thought 
Lloyd  as  the  dark  eager  face  smiled  up  at  her,  with 
its  quick  flashing  smile  that  she  found  so  peculiarly 
attractive.  "  He  certainly  is  the  most  entahtaining 
man  I  evah  talked  to." 

"  The  show  is  over,"  called  Gay  as  Miss  Marks 
began  to  put  up  her  camera.  "If  your  royal  high- 
nesses will  deign  to  descend,  dinner  will  be  served 
immediately."  It  was  an  attractive  table  she  led 
them  to,  the  red  berries  shining  in  luscious  heaps  in 


"MAKING    A    CUP    OF    HER    WHITE    HANDS" 


"GARDEN  FANCIES*  127 

their  little  green  baskets,  mounds  of  fresh  water- 
cress beside  every  plate,  and  a  big-  bouquet  of  wild- 
flowers  in  the  centre  of  the  rock  table. 

"What  is  the  peculiar  charm  of  a  picnic?" 
queried  Alex  as  he  fished  an  ant  out  of  the  sugar 
and  opened  a  half-cooked  potato'. 

"  At  home  one  would  send  such  a  dish  back  to 
the  kitchen  in  red-hot  wrath.  Here  one  eats  it  in 
a  sort  of  solemn  joy." 

"  It's  the  spell  of  the  June  woods,"  suggested 
Miss  Marks. 

"  No,  it's  youth  in  the  blood,"  said  Leland.  "  All 
the  Junes  in  the  world  and  all  outdoors  wouldn't 
make  a  half-baked  potato  fit  for  the  gods  unless  one 
has  '  the  sun  and  the  wind  in  his  pulses.'  " 

"  No,"  insisted  Gay.  "  It  can't  be  that,  for  Jame- 
son isn't  much  older  than  you,  and  he  despises 
prowling  around  in  the  woods,  as  he  calls  it.  He 
made  so  much  fun  of  it  that  Lucy  went  driving 
with  him  instead  of  coming  with  us,  and  she  adores 
such  outings,  just  as  much  now  as  she  did  before 
she  was  married." 

"  Maybe  no  one  feels  the  charm  unless  the  gods 
have  given  him  a  sort  of  Midas  touch  that  will  turn 
everything  disagreeable,  like  ants  and  underdone 
potatoes,  into  golden  experiences,"  said  Alex.   "  The 


128   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Midas  imagination  let  us  call  it.  And  the  way  to 
keep  it  in  good  working  order  is  to  give  it  constant 
practice.    Let's  have  a  picnic  every  day." 

"  To-morrow,"  announced  Leland,  "  I'll  take  you 
all  over  to  that  old  English  garden  that  I  discov- 
ered, to  take  that  Garden  fancy  of  Browning's  we 
were  discussing." 

Gay  looked  up  quickly.  It  had  been  understood 
only  yesterday  that  they  were  to  wait  for  Kitty's 
return  for  that  picture.  His  taking  it  for  granted 
that  Lloyd  would  assume  the  part  augured  well  for 
her  hopes. 

"  You  know  that  poem  of  Browning's,  don't  you, 
Miss  Sherman? "  he  asked,  smiling  across  at  her. 

Now  Lloyd  had  never  cared  for  Browning.  In 
fact  she  frankly  admitted  that  she  had  never  got  far 
enough  into  many  of  his  poems  to  know  what  he 
was  talking  about.  At  Warwick  Hall  Miss  Chilton 
had  been  such  an  enthusiastic  interpreter  of  his  that 
ten  of  the  girls  in  Lloyd's  class  had  formed  a 
Browning  club.  Although  she  declined  their  invi- 
tation to  join  them,  she  was  more  complimented  by 
that  invitation  than  any  other  of  that  school  term, 
and  envied  them  their  apparent  enjoyment  of  what 
to  her  was  a  tangle  of  vague  meanings.  Now  when 
she  saw  Leland  take  a  well  worn  copy  from  his 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  1 29 

pocket  and  flip  over  the  leaves  to  find  the  place,  with 
an  ease  that  showed  long  familiarity  with  it,  she 
wished  that  she  had  joined  the  club.  It  made  her 
feel  childish  and  immature  to  think  that  she  could 
not  discuss  this  subject  with  him  as  any  one  of  those 
ten  girls  could  have  done.  But  it  was  one  of  the 
simple  poems  to  which  the  book  opened.  From  her 
seat  opposite,  Lloyd  could  see  the  marked  margins 
and  underscored  lines,  as  he  read  aloud : 

"  '  Here  is  the  garden  she  walked  across 
Arm  in  my  arm  such  a  short  while  since. 


Down  this  side  of  the  gravel  walk 

She  went,  while  her  robe's  edge  brushed  the  box. 

And  here  she  paused  in  her  gracious  talk 

To  point  me  a  moth  on  the  milk-white  phlox.' " 

"  Oh,  I  can  just  see  that  picture,"  cried  Miss 
Marks  enthusiastically.  "  I  wish  we  had  time  to 
take  it  to-day." 

"  But  wait,  here's  a  better  one,"  he  added,  turn- 
ing the  page. 

"  «  This  flower  she  stopped  at,  finger  on  lip, 
Stooped  over  in  doubt,  as  settling  its  claim, 
Till  she  gave  me  with  pride  to  make  no  slip, 
Its  soft,  meandering  Spanish  name. 
What  a  name  !     Was  it  love  or  praise  ? 
Speech  half-asleep  or  song  half-awake  ? 


I30    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

I  must  learn  Spanish  one  of  these  days 
Only  for  that  slow,  sweet  name's  sake.'  " 

Lloyd  picked  up  the  book  open  at  the  place  where 
he  laid  it,  face  downward,  on  the  rock. 

"  I  wondah  what  flowah  Browning  meant,"  she 
said,  "  that  had  such  a  '  soft,  meandering  Spanish 
name.  Speech  half-asleep  or  song  half-awake  —  ' 
It  must  have  been  something  exquisitely  beautiful 
or  he  wouldn't  have  been  willing  to  learn  a  lan- 
guage just  for  the  sake  of  knowing  that  one  name." 

Farther  down  the  page  were  other  underscored 
lines.  She  read  them  softly,  almost  under  her 
breath. 

"  «  Where  I  find  her  not,  beauties  vanish. 
Whither  I  follow  her  beauties  flee. 
Is  there  no  method  to  tell  her  in  Spanish 
June  is  twice  June  since  she's  breathed  it  with  me?"' 

"  Isn't  that  sweet?  "  cried  Gay.  "  Say  it  for  us, 
Leland.  Say  it  in  Spanish  so  we  can  hear  how  it 
sounds." 

With  an  indulgent  smile,  as  if  amused  at  her 
childishness,  he  lazily  did  Gay's  bidding,  then  as  she 
began  exclaiming  over  the  musical  syllables  to  Alex, 
he  turned  to  Lloyd  and  repeated  the  line  with  an 
emphasis  which  made  it  altogether  personal.     Of 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  131 

course  she  could  not  understand  it,  but  the  words 
were  like  bird-notes,  and  there  was  no  mistaking 
the  language  of  those  dark  expressive  eyes  that  held 
hers  a  moment  in  their  admiring  gaze.  They  said 
as  plainly  as  if  they  had  spoken  aloud,  "  June  is 
twice  June,  since  you've  breathed  it  with  me." 

Lloyd  felt  the  colour  surge  up  into  her  face,  and 
to  hide  it,  turned  quickly  and  began  examining  a 
grass  stain  on  the  hem  of  her  skirt,  with  apparent 
concern.  But  an  exultant  little  thrill  flashed  over 
her.  He  liked  her.  She  was  sure  of  it,  and  it  made 
her  glad,  so  glad  that  it  amazed  her  to  think  that 
only  two  hours  before  she  had  confided  emphatic- 
ally to  a  little  black  ant  crawling  over  her  path,  that 
she  couldn't  bear  him. 

When  she  had  finished  a  critical  examination  of 
the  grass  stain  she  glanced  back  again,  hoping  that 
Gay  had  not  seen  her  embarrassment.  To  her  relief 
Gay's  entire  attention  was  absorbed  in  an  argument 
with  Alex  as  to  the  exact  meaning  of  the  quotation, 
whether  twice  June  meant  a  lengthening  of  the 
calendar  or  an  intensifying  of  its  pleasures.  Miss 
Marks,  ilke  a  good  chaperone,  could  not  have  no- 
ticed, for  she  was  busy  gathering  up  the  dishes, 
and  Lloyd  sprang  up  to  help  her. 

Presently,  as  they  started  away  from  the  spring, 


132    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Leland  came  around  to  Lloyd's  side.  "  You  must 
let  me  teach  you  Spanish,  Miss  Sherman,"  he  said 
in  his  masterful  way  which  seemed  to  leave  her  no 
choice  in  the  matter.  "  An  hour  a  day  wouldn't 
take  much  of  your  time,  and  would  be  enough  to 
give  you  some  idea  of  the  charm  of  the  language. 
Gay  tells  me  you  play  the  harp.  Some  of  the  songs 
are  exquisite." 

"  Oh,  I  nevah  in  the  world  could  learn  it,  I  am 
suah ! "  she  answered  lightly,  with  a  shrug  that 
seemed  to  indicate  the  uselessness  of  undertaking 
such  a  task. 

"  You  don't  know,"  he  answered  authoritatively. 
"  You've  never  had  me  for  a  teacher." 

Again  that  flashing  look  that  made  his  eyes 
deepen  so  wonderfully  and  curved  the  cynical  lips 
into  an  altogether  gentle  and  winning  smile.  It 
seemed  to  photograph  itself  on  Lloyd's  memory, 
recurring  to  her  again  and  again  in  the  most  unex- 
pected moments.  She  saw  it  on  the  way  home  with 
Alex,  all  the  time  she  was  laughingly  recounting 
some  of  her  Warwick  Hall  escapades.  It  came 
between  her  and  her  book  when  she  tried  to  read 
herself  to  sleep  that  afternoon,  and  the  last  thing 
that  night  when  her  eyes  were  closed  and  the  lights. 


"GARDEN  FANCIES"  1 33 

were  out  she  saw  again  that  glance  that  said  as 
plainly  as  the  slow  music  of  his  Spanish  words, 
"  June  is  twice  June  since  you've  breathed  it  with 
me." 


CHAPTER   VII 

SPANISH    LESSONS 

The  Harcourt  carriage  swung  rapidly  along  the 
road,  for  the  Little  Colonel  held  the  reins,  and  was 
testing  the  speed  of  the  new  horses,  just  sent  down 
from  Lexington. 

"  Isn't  it  glorious  ? "  she  cried,  with  a  quick 
glance  over  her  shoulder  at  Gay  and  Miss  Marks 
on  the  back  seat.  "  It's  like  flying,  the  way  they 
take  us  through  the  air,  and  they're  the  best  matched 
team  in  the  country." 

Leland,  on  the  seat  beside  her,  watched  with 
growing  admiration  her  expert  handling  of  the 
horses,  and  Gay  watched  him.  Swathed  in  a  white 
chiffon  veil,  she  was  paying  the  penalty  for  being 
so  obliging  the  day  before.  She  had  lain  so  long 
on  the  rocks  in  her  pose  of  the  drowned  fisher- 
maiden,  that  her  face  was  burned  to  a  blister,  and 
she  could  not  touch  it  without  groaning.  But  she 
would  willingly  go  through  the  ordeal  again,  sh§ 


SPANISH  LESSONS  1 35 

told  herself,  in  order  to  bring  about  the  present 
desirable  state  of  affairs. 

"  Now  which  way?"  asked  Lloyd  as  they  came 
to  a  turn.  "  I  feel  like  a  Columbus  on  an  unsailed 
sea.  I  thought  I  knew  every  gah'den  around  heah 
within  a  radius  of  five  miles,  but  I've  nevah  seen 
any  that  fits  the  description  of  the  one  you're  tak- 
ing us  to." 

"  Turn  to  the  right,"  Leland  directed.  "  Then 
it's  just  a  short  way  down  a  woodland  road.  You'll 
come  to  an  old-fashioned  wicket  gate  and  a  straight, 
box-bordered  walk  leading  up  to  the  back  of  such 
a  quaint  vine-covered  old  house  with  a  red  door, 
that  you'll  expect  to  see  a  thatched  roof  and  hear  an 
English  skylark." 

"Well,  of  all  things,"  laughed  Lloyd,  "why 
didn't  you  say  little  red  doah  in  the  first  place.  That 
would  have  located  it  for  me.  You've  simply  dis- 
covahed  the  back  premises  of  old  Doctah  Shelby's 
place,  and  yoah  wrondahful  English  gah'den  is  their 
kitchen  gah'den.  We  could  have  reached  their 
front  gate  in  ten  minutes  from  our  house,  and  heah 
you  have  led  us  all  around  Robin  Hood's  bahn  to 
find  it.  That  loop  around  Rollington  took  us  a 
good  two  miles  out  of  the  way." 

"  Well,  that's  the  only  way  I  knew  how  to  reach 


I36   LITTLE  C0L0NEI7S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

it,"  he  answered,  with  the  flashing  smile  she  had 
learned  to  look  for.  "  I  hope  that  you  don't  feel 
that  it  has  been  time  wasted.    /  don't." 

"  Not  behind  hawses  like  these,"  she  answered. 
"  We'll  forgive  you  for  the  sake  of  the  ride.  I 
nevah  get  tiahed  of  driving  when.  I  can  go  this 
fast." 

She  turned  into  a  narrow  lane  leading  around  to 
the  front  of  the  house,  and  waited  for  Leland  to 
open  the  gate. 

"  How  natural  everything  looks,"  she  exclaimed. 
"  I  haven't  been  heah  for  yeahs,  and  when  I  was  a 
little  thing  of  six  or  seven  I  used  to  be  a  weekly 
visitah.  I'd  bring  my  dawg  Fritz,  and  stay  from 
breakfast  till  bedtime.  I  called  Doctah  Shelby 
*  Mistah-wy-doctah  '  and  his  wife  '  Aunt  Alicia,'  " 
she  went  on  as  Leland  resumed  his  seat  in  the  car- 
riage. "  They  said  that  I  reminded  them  of  their 
only  daughtah,  who  was  dead,  and  they  used  to 
borrow  me  by  the  day.  They  spoiled  me  so  that  it 
was  perfectly  scandalous  the  way  I  acted  some- 
times." 

"  Why  did  you  stop  coming  ?  "   asked  Gay. 

"  Mrs.  Shelby  had  a  fall  that  made  an  invalid  of 
her,  and  she  has  been  away  at  sanitariums  and  hos- 
pitals most  of  the  time  since.     I've  seen  her  often, 


SPANISH  LESSONS  137 

of  co'se,  but  not  heah.  It's  only  lately  that  they've 
opened  up  the  house  and  come  home  to  live." 

Places  exercised  a  strong  influence  over  Lloyd. 
Just  as  she  felt  the  challenge  of  the  locust-trees  in 
the  avenue  at  home,  and  could  not  pass  those  old 
family  sentinels  without  an  unconscious  lifting  of 
the  head  and  that  pride  of  bearing  which  they 
seemed  to  expect  from  all  the  Lloyds,  so  this  old 
homestead  had  its  peculiar  effect  upon  her.  As  she 
went  up  the  path  she  had  the  same  feeling  of  ab- 
solute sovereignty  that  she  had  had  a  dozen  years 
before  when  her  slightest  wish  was  law  in  this 
adoring  household,  and  where  every  act  of  hers, 
no  matter  how  outbreaking,  passed  unchided.  If 
she  chose  to  empty  the  sugar  into  the  middle  of  the 
garden  walk  and  fill  the  bowl  with  pebbles,  "  Aunt 
Alicia  "  took  her  afternoon  tea  unsweetened,  rather 
than  ring  for  more,  and  thus  call  Mom  Beck's  atten- 
tion to  the  naughtiness  of  her  little  charge. 

Once,  some  babyish  whim  prompting  her  to  order 
every  picture  turned  to  the  wall,  the  doctor  meekly 
obeyed,  and  when  some  chance  caller  remonstrated, 
he  protested  that  it  was  a  very  small  thing  to  do  to 
give  a  child  pleasure,  and  that  there  was  no  reason 
why  she  shouldn't  have  them  upside  down  if  she 
wished.     So  strong  was  the  old  spell  now,  that  as 


138    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

she  stepped  up  on  the  porch  and  saw  the  same  ugly 
little  Chinese  idol  sitting  against  the  front  door  to 
prop  it  open,  that  had  sat  there  on  all  her  former 
visits,  she  stooped  and  stood  it  on  its  head. 

"  Why  on  earth  did  you  do  that?  "   gasped  Gay. 

"Simply  fo'ce  of  habit,"  laughed  Lloyd.  "I 
used  to  hate  it  so  because  it  was  such  an  ugly  old 
thing  that  I  always  stood  it  on  its  head  to  punish 
it  for  staring  at  me.  I  did  it  this  time  without 
thinking." 

Leland  laughed.  Never  in  the  short  time  he  had 
known  her  had  she  seemed  quite  so  adorable  as 
she  did  at  this  moment,  relapsing  into  the  childish 
imperiousness  of  her  Little  Colonel  ways.  While 
they  waited  for  Mrs.  Shelby  to  come  down  he 
watched  her  going  around  the  room,  renewing  her 
acquaintance  with  all  the  old  objects  that  had  once 
held  a  fascination  for  her.  She  called  his  attention 
to  the  tapestry  on  the  wall,  a  shepherd  and  shep- 
herdess beside  a  trellis  on  which  hung  roses  as  big 
as  cabbages,  and  told  him  the  quaint  fancies  she  had 
once  had  about  the  romantic  figures.  The  stuffed 
birds  under  the  glass  case  on  the  mantel  each  had 
a  name  she  had  given  it.  She  remembered  them 
all,  from  the  yellow  canary,  to  the  mite  of  a  hum- 
ming-bird, poised  at  the  top. 


SPANISH  LESSONS  1 39 

Stopping  before  a  queer  old  whatnot,  filled  with 
bric-a-brac  and  shells,  she  caught  up  a  round  china 
box.  A  gilt  eagle,  hovering  over  a  nest  of  little 
eaglets  formed  the  lid,  and  her  face  began  to  dimple 
as  she  lifted  the  china  bird  by  its  imposing  beak. 

"  There  ought  to  be  peppahmintL  inside,"  she 
said.  "  There  always  used  to  be,  because  I'd  howl 
if  there  wasn't,  and  they  couldn't  beah  to  have  me 
disappointed.  Well,  I  wish  you'd  look!  Deah  old 
Aunt  Alicia!  She's  remembahed  all  these  yeahs 
and  kept  it  ready  for  me." 

She  held  the  box  out  towards  him,  and  he  saw 
that  it  had  been  freshly  filled  with  delectable  little 
striped  drops. 

"  It  hurts  my  conscience,"  she  said,  looking  up 
wistfully,  as  the  familiar  odour  of  the  peppermint 
greeted  her,  "  to  think  how  I  have  neglected  her. 
Heah  I  have  been  going  to  picnics  and  pahties  and 
all  sawts  of  things  evah  since  I  came  home  from 
school,  and  have  nevah  been  neah  her.  I'm  going 
to  find  her  this  minute,  and  not  wait  for  her  to 
come  down  as  if  I  were  some  strangah." 

The  quaintly  furnished  old  room  straightway 
lost  its  charm  for  Leland  when  she  left  it,  but  Gay, 
pushing  aside  her  veil  to  taste  the  contents  of  the 
eagle's  nest,  which  Lloyd  had  deposited  in  her  lap, 


140    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDINGt 

scrutinized  everything  with  interest.  This  was 
Alex's  home  now,  and  she  wondered  how  he  would 
look  in  the  midst  of  such  surroundings.  She 
couldn't  imagine  him  with  such  an  antiquated  back- 
ground. Miss  Marks  picked  up  a  basket  of  da- 
guerreotypes from  the  marble-topped  table,  and 
began  examining  them. 

They  could  hear  Lloyd  calling  at  the  top  of  the 
stairs,  "  Aunt  Alicia,"  and  then  Mrs.  Shelby's  voice, 
tremulous  with  pleased  surprise :  "  Why  it's  the 
Little  Colonel!  Oh,  my  dear!  My  dear!  what  a 
joy  it  is  to  have  you  here  again !  "  Then  they  heard 
Lloyd  laughingly  explaining  their  mission,  and 
after  that  they  seemed  to  pass  into  another  room, 
for  a  low  hum  of  voices  was  all  that  could  be  dis- 
tinguished. 

Presently  Mrs.  Shelby  came  down  alone.  She 
was  a  gentle  little  old  lady,  with  faded  blue  eyes, 
and  a  sweet  patient  face.  She  wore  a  bunch  of  gray 
curls  over  each  ear  in  the  fashion  of  her  girlhood. 
There  was  a  lingering  charm  of  j^outh  about  her, 
just  as  there  was  a  faint  suggestion  of  lavender 
still  clinging  to  the  fine  old  lace  that  fell  over  her 
little  hands.  Almost  as  soon  as  she  had  finished 
welcoming  them  an  old  coloured  man  followed  her 
"into  the  room,  bearing  a  huge  tray  with  tinkling 


SPANISH  LESSONS  1 41 

glasses,  a  decanter  of  raspberry  shrub,  and  a  plate 
of  little  nut-cakes.  While  he  served  the  guests  she 
explained  Lloyd's  delay  with  almost  girlish  eager- 
ness. 

"  I  have  taken  a  great  liberty  with  your  model, 
Miss  Marks,  but  Lloyd  assured  me  you  would  be 
perfectly  willing.  This  last  day  of  June  is  a  very 
happy  anniversary  of  mine  and  the  doctor's.  I  have 
been  thinking  of  it  all  morning,  and  when  Lloyd 
came  up  the  stairs  just  now,  so  glowing  and  bright, 
it  seemed  to  me  I  saw  my  own  lost  youth  rising  up 
before  me,  and  I  asked  her  to  put  on  a  gown  I  have 
treasured  many  years,  and  be  photographed  in  that. 

"  It  is  the  one  I  had  on  when  Richard  proposed 
to  me,"  she  explained,  a  faint  pink  tingeing  her  soft 
old  cheeks.  "  Fifty  years  ago  to-day,  in  that  same 
old  garden.  This  was  my  grandmother's  place  then. 
Richard  bought  it  afterwards.  And  a  year  from 
to-day  if  we  live,  we  will  keep  our  golden  wedding. 
If  you  can  use  the  gown  in  the  photograph  it  will 
make  me  very  happy,  for  it  is  falling  to  pieces, 
despite  my  care  of  it.  Lloyd  thought  it  very  pic- 
turesque and  appropriate." 

While  Miss  Marks  was  expressing  her  delight 
over  the  privilege,  for  the  unearthing  of  old  cos- 
tumes was  one  of  her  pet  diversions,  Lloyd  came 


142    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

down  the  stairs  and  stopped  shyly  in  the  doorway. 
She  had  tucked  up  her  shining  hair  with  a  tall  ivory 
comb,  and  it  hung  in  soft  curls  on  each  side  of  her 
glowing  face,  in  the  old  fashion  of  Mrs.  Shelby's 
girlhood.  The  thin,  clinging  dress  enveloped  her 
like  a  pale  blue  cloud,  and  a  flat,  wide-brimmed 
garden  hat  swung  from  her  arm  by  its  blue  ribbons. 
With  the  donning  of  the  ancient  dress  she  seemed 
to  have  put  on  the  sweet  shy  manner  that  had  been 
the  charm  of  its  first  wearer. 

A  long-drawn  "  oh !  "  of  admiration  from  Gay 
and  Miss  Marks  greeted  her  appearance,  and  she 
turned  a  timid  glance  towards  Leland,  who  had 
risen  quickly.  His  glance  and  his  silence  were  more 
eloquent  than  their  words,  for  she  turned  away 
blushing. 

"  Now  if  I  may  have  a  bit  of  paper  to  make  a 
moth  to  pin  on  the  milk-white  phlox,"  began  Miss 
Marks,  but  Mrs.  Shelby  stopped  her  eagerly. 

"  Oh,  my  dear,  we  will  have  the  picture  perfect 
in  every  way.  Richard  has  a  case  of  butterflies  and 
moths  in  his  office.  I  shall  send  a  servant  to  bring 
it  and  to  call  him  over,  for  he  will  want  to  see  Lloyd 
in  that  gown  I  am  sure.  How  I  wish  Alex  were 
here  to  be  photographed  with  her.     He  is  so  broad 


SPANISH  LESSONS  143 

shouldered  and  erect  he  reminds  me  daily  of  what 
his  uncle  was  at  his  age." 

"  Maybe  he  will  come  before  we  are  through," 
suggested  Miss  Marks.  At  the  mere  thought  of  his 
coming,  Gay  pulled  her  veil  down  hastily  over  her 
blistered  face.  Behind  its  protecting  screen  she 
watched  the  old  couple  keenly,  when  the  doctor  ar- 
rived. They  had  eyes  for  nothing  but  Lloyd,  and 
their  gaze  followed  her  tenderly  wherever  she  went. 

"  They're  just  daffy  about  her,"  thought  Gay. 
"  It's  plain  to  be  seen  they'd  give  anything  in  the 
world  to  get  her  into  the  family.  I  hope  Doctor 
Alex  won't  come  in  time  to  be  photographed  with 
her.  If  he'd  never  fallen  in  love  with  her  before 
he'd  have  to  do  it  now.  He  couldn't  help  himself 
when  she  looks  like  that,  and  then  where  would  all 
my  plans  be  for  poor  Leland  ?  " 

But  Leland  was  taking  care  of  his  own  interests. 
As  soon  as  Miss  Marks  had  taken  enough  plates  to 
satisfy  herself  he  led  Lloyd  off  to  the  end  of  the 
garden  to  show  her  a  flower  which  he  had  found 
with  a  soft  meandering  Spanish  name. 

"  We'll  begin  the  lessons  to-morrow,"  he  said, 
as  if  it  were  all  settled.  The  masterfulness  of  his 
tone  had  pleased  her  the  day  before,  but  here  in  the 
place  where  she  had  done  all  the  dictating  and  others 


144   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

had  obeyed,  it  aroused  a  feeling  that  Mom  Beck 
would  have  labelled  "  the  Lloyd  stubbo'ness."  She 
didn't  want  to  consent,  simply  because  he  had  taken 
it  for  granted  that  she  would,  so  she  laughingly 
contradicted  him. 

"  We'll  begin  to-morrow,"  he  repeated,  smiling 
down  at  her  so  insistently  that  she  dropped  her  eyes 
before  his.  Then  to  her  surprise  she  found  that  her 
opposition  had  completely  vanished.  She  felt  that 
it  would  be  one  of  the  pleasantest  pastimes  that 
could  be  devised,  to  study  such  a  musical  language 
under  such  a  teacher.  But  she  had  no  intention  of 
letting  him  know  how  she  felt  about  it  for  a  long 
while,  so  she  was  thankful  for  the  interruption 
which  came  just  then. 

Miss  Marks,  who  was  exploring  the  rest  of  the 
premises'  in  search  of  further  possibilities,  sent  Gay 
to  summon  her  to  the  front  of  the  house. 

"  She  says  to  '  come  into  the  garden,  Maud.' 
She  is  going  to  add  a  Tennysonian  pose  to  her 
series  of  Fancies,  and  she's  found  a  place  where 
there's  a  bit  of  terrace  for  you  to  come  tripping 
down,  a  la  Maud,  to  the  tune  of  '  She  is  coming, 
my  own,  my  sweet ! '  " 

Catching  up  her  long  filmy  blue  skirt,  Lloyd  hur- 
ried away,  leaving  Gay  and  Leland  to  follow  as  they 


SPANISH  LESSONS  145 

chose.  Leland  finished  the  verse  in  a  clear  tenor 
voice  as  if  singing  to  himself,  but  it  followed  Lloyd 
down  the  walk  as  if  meant  for  her  alone: 

u  •  She  is  coming,  my  own,  my  sweet! 
Were  it  ever  so  airy  a  tread 
My  heart  would  hear  her  and  beat 
Though  'twere  earth  in  an  earthy  bed. 
Would  start  and  tremble  under  her  feet 
And  blossom  in  purple  and  red.' " 

Then  he  hummed  it  almost  under  his  breath,  the 
entire  verse  again,  forgetful  of  Gay  at  his  elbow 
until  she  spoke. 

"  Wouldn't  Kitty  have  looked  adorable  in  that 
darling  old  hat  tied  under  her  chin?  It's  too  bad 
she  couldn't  have  been  here  to  pose  as  Maud." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  he  answered  absently. 
"  She's  too  dark  for  the  part.  Miss  Lloyd  looks  it 
to  perfection." 

Gay's  eyes  shone  delightedly  behind  the  white 
veil,  and  for  a  few  steps  she  could  not  help  skipping, 
as  she  blessed  the  Martinsville  Springs,  which  had 
taken  Kitty  off  in  the  nick  of  time  to  save  her  for  a 
different  fate.  By  the  time  Maud's  picture  was 
taken  Alex  arrived,  and  Miss  Marks  was  promptly 
seized  with  an  inspiration. 

"  I  am  going  to  have  two   pictures  of  Darby 


I46   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT   COMES  RIDING 

and  Joan,"  she  exclaimed,  "  to  add  to  the  series. 
Alex,  you  take  Lloyd  down  into  the  garden  again 
beside  the  phlox,  and  turn  so  that  I'll  get  your 
profile.  It  is  so  like  your  uncle's.  I'll  call  that  one 
'  Hand  in  hand  when  our  life  was  May'  Then  I'll 
take  Mrs.  Shelby  and  the  doctor  in  exactly  the  same 
position  as  a  companion  piece,  and  call  that  '  Hand 
in  hand  when  our  hair  is  gray.'  " 

They  made  a  joke  of  it,  the  two  old  people,  and 
obligingly  took  the  places  that  Lloyd  and  Alex  left, 
but  a  mist  sprang  to  Lloyd's  eyes  a  moment  later, 
watching  the  devoted  old  couple  who  for  fifty  years 
had  been  lovers  and  for  forty-nine  years  had  been 
wed.  Marriage  like  that  seemed  a  beautiful  thing; 
she  wondered  if  such  an  experience  would  ever  be 
hers.  She  wished  Mammy  Easter  had  found  a 
better  fortune  for  her  than  the  one  she  told  over 
her  tea-cup. 

It  was  noon  by  the  time  the  pictures  were  all 
taken,  and  Leland  took  Miss  Marks  home  in  the 
carriage  while  Lloyd  went  up-stairs  to  change  her 
dress.  She  wanted  Gay  and  Leland  to  stop  at  The 
Locusts  for  lunch,  but  Gay  refused  because  she 
couldn't  go  to  the  table  in  a  veil  and  under  the 
circumstances  she  couldn't  go  without  one.  She  got 
out  of  the  carriage,  however,  and  sat  on  the  porch 


SPANISH  LESSONS  147 

while  Leland  took  the  old  Colonel  for  a  short  spin 
down  the  road,  to  try  the  new  horses. 

"  It's  been  a  mighty  nice  morning,"  she  said.  "  I 
wish  Lucy  could  have  been  with  us.  She  adores 
discovering  old  places  like  that  and  doing  unex- 
pected things.  It  almost  spoiled  my  good  times 
thinking  of  the  wistful  way  she  looked  after  us 
when  we  drove  off." 

"  But  she's  married !  "  exclaimed  Lloyd.  "  I 
shouldn't  think  she'd  care  for  those  things  in  quite 
the  same  way  as  she  did  before.  I  should  think 
she'd  rather  stay  with  her  husband." 

"Bosh!"  said  Gay.  "Being  married  doesn't 
change  a  person's  disposition  and  make  tame  old 
hens  out  of  lively  little  humming-birds.  That's  just 
what  Lucy  was,  a  dear  little  humming-bird,  always 
in  a  flutter  of  doing  and  going;  and  you  needn't 
tell  me  that  she  enjoys  poking  there  at  home  with 
nobody  but  Jameson,  as  much  as  she  would  enjoy 
going  out  with  us  and  doing  things." 

"But  he's  her  husband!"  insisted  Lloyd,  as  if 
that  term  covered  all  that  could  be  desired  of  human 
companionship.     Then  she  hummed  meaningly: 

*««  Hand  in  hand  when  our  life  was  May, 
Hand  in  hand  when  our  hair  is  gray ! '  * 


I48    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Gay  shrugged  her  shoulders  impatiently.  "  Oh, 
that  Darby  and  Joan  business  is  all  right  when  your 
hair  is  gray,  but  Lucy  is  only  a  year  older  than  I 
am,  and  Jameson  doesn't  interest  himself  in  a  single 
thing  that  she  likes.  He's  devoted  to  her,  so  de- 
voted he  doesn't  want  her  out  of  his  sight;  but  it's 
the  kind  of  devotion  that  has  taught  me  a  lesson. 
If  ever  I  tie  myself  up  that  way  it  will  not  be  while 
life  is  May.    I'll  have  a  good  time  first." 

Lloyd  had  no  answer  for  such  heresy.  She  was 
going  over  in  her  mind  the  list  of  people  from  whom 
she  had  unconsciously  taken  her  exalted  impres- 
sions of  married  life:  her  mother  and  Papa  Jack, 
the  old  Colonel  and  Amanthis,  Doctor  Shelby  and 
Aunt  Alicia,  Rob's  father  and  mother.  She  felt 
that  Gay  was  mistaken.  To  be  sure  there  were  old 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Apwall,  who  quarrelled  like  cats  and 
dogs,  but  somehow  even  they  had  given  her  the 
impression  that  they  enjoyed  their  little  encounters, 
and  quarrelled  to  pass  the  time,  rather  than  because 
they  bore  each  other  any  ill-will.  Then  she  re- 
flected that  these  were  all  people  of  an  older  gener- 
ation than  Lucy,  and  maybe  there  was  a  difference 
in  the  times.  Surely  Gay  must  have  good  reason 
for  speaking  so  feelingly.  This  was  not  the  first 
time  that  she  had  spoken  of  Lucy  with  tears  in  her 


SPANISH  LESSONS  I49 

eyes,  and  when  she  did  that,  Lloyd,  recalling 
Mammy  Easter's  tea-cups,  was  vaguely  glad  that 
it  had  been  foretold  that  hers  would  be  empty. 

The  old  Colonel  came  back  in  a  few  minutes 
loud  in  his  praise  of  the  new  horses,  and  to  Lloyd's 
surprise,  in  high  good  humour  with  their  owner. 
Evidently  Leland  had  improved  his  opportunity  and 
had  exerted  himself  to  make  friends  with  the  old 
Colonel,  for  to  Lloyd's  amazement  he  cordially  in- 
sisted on  Leland's  considering  The  Locusts  a 
second  home  as  long  as  he  should  be  in  the  Valley, 
and  to  come  at  any  hour  he  chose.  The  latch-string 
would  be  out  for  him. 

"  I  shall  certainly  avail  myself  of  the  privilege 
very  soon,"  he  responded,  "  for  to-morrow  I  have 
the  honour  to  begin  giving  Miss  Lloyd  lessons  in 
Spanish.  So  few  young  ladies  nowadays  play  the 
harp,  that  when  one  has  the  ability  she  owes  it  to 
the  world  to  learn  the  Spanish  songs.  Don't  you 
think  so?" 

Lloyd  opened  her  mouth  to  protest  that  she  had 
not  yet  given  her  consent,  but  closed  it  again  as  the 
old  Colonel  began  expressing  his  pleasure  at  such  an 
arrangement.  She  felt  trapped.  It  was  to  please 
him  that  she  had  learned  to  play  on  her  grand- 
mother's harp.    Any  reference  to  it  always  put  him 


150   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

in  a  gentle  humour.  She  wanted  him  to  be  cordial 
and  friendly  with  Leland,  and  was  glad  that  he  was 
no  longer  prejudiced  against  him,  so  she  held  her 
peace;  but  it  exasperated  her  to  have  her  consent 
taken  for  granted  in  such  a  high-handed  way.  He 
had  ridden  over  her  objection  as  regardlessly  as  if 
she  had  never  made  any. 

She  had  boasted  to  herself,  "  He  needn't  put  on 
any  of  his  lordly  ways  with  me!  "  and  here  she  was 
submitting  meekly,  without  a  word.  It  worried  her 
after  they  had  driven  away.  All  the  time  she  was 
up  in  her  room,  getting  ready  for  lunch,  she  kept 
thinking  about  it. 

"  I'll  just  give  him  to  undahstand  that  it  was  on 
grandfathah's  account,"  she  decided  finally.  "  In- 
stead of  my  influencing  him  as  Gay  expected,  it 
looks  as  if  he  were  winding  me  around  his  fingah. 
But  he  isn't !  He  sha'n't !  I'll  take  the  lessons,  but 
I'll  have  no  foolishness  about  it.  I'll  surprise  him 
by  sticking  strictly  to  business,  and  I'll  set  him  a 
good  example  of  the  way  to  live  up  to  his  own 
family  motto/' 

Mrs.  Sherman,  who  made  no  objection  to  the  les- 
sons since  the  old  Colonel  approved  of  them  so 
heartily,  was  on  the  front  porch  with  her  embroid- 
ery when  Leland  came  up  the  next  morning,  the 


SPANISH  LESSONS  t$t 

first  of  July,  to  give  the  first  lesson.  She  smiled 
to  see  how  energetically  Lloyd  threw  herself  into 
it,  thinking  it  was  a  matter  of  pride  with  her  to 
show  him  what  rapid  progress  she  could  make. 

It  certainly  was  a  matter  of  pride  with  the  Colo- 
nel, who  enjoyed  being  waylaid  to  hear  how  beau- 
tifully she  could  count  to  one  hundred  or  name  the 
months  of  the  year.  It  became  his  habit  to  take 
the  book,  while,  perched  on  the  arm  of  his  chair, 
she  rattled  off  the  vocabulary  for  the  day's  lesson, 
and  reviewed  all  the  others. 

"  That's  right !  That's  right !  "  he  would  say 
encouragingly.  "  At  this  rate  you'll  soon  be  ready 
for  a  trip  to  the  Alhambra,  and  I'm  blessed  if  I 
don't  take  you  some  of  these  days.  I've  always 
wanted  to  go." 

When  Kitty  came  home  from  the  springs  Lloyd 
insisted  on  her  joining  the  class,  but  she  declared 
she  was  too  far  behind  to  attempt  catching  up. 
Besides  she  was  in  charge  of  affairs  at  home  now, 
and  Elise  was  to  have  a  house-party  soon.  There 
were  half  a  dozen  good  reasons  why  she  could  not 
take  the  time.  The  principal  one,  which  she  did 
not  give  however,  was  that  it  was  plain  to  be  seen 
that  Leland  was  more  interested  in  studying  Lloyd 
than  in  teaching  her  a  language,  and  under  such 


152   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

circumstances,  Kitty  preferred  not  to  make  the 
third  party. 

So  while  Kitty's  mornings  were  filled  with  her 
housekeeping  duties,  Betty's  with  her  writing  and 
Gay's  with  her  music  and  plans  to  keep  Lucy  occu- 
pied, it  gradually  came  about  that  Leland  spent 
more  and  more  of  his  time  at  The  Locusts.  The 
lessons  lasted  only  an  hour,  but  after  that  he  usually 
found  some  excuse  to  stay:  there  was  a  new  song 
that  he  wanted  to  hear,  or  a  game  of  tennis,  or  a 
stroll  down  to  the  post-office.  Sometimes  when 
he  had  no  excuse  at  all  he  lingered  anyhow,  loung- 
ing on  the  shady  porch,  and  talking  of  anything 
that  happened  to  come  uppermost.  Then  at  night 
he  was  often  there  again,  either  because  The  Lo- 
custs was  the  gathering  place  of  the  Clan,  and  a 
frolic  was  afoot,  or  he  went  to  escort  Lloyd  and 
Betty  to  the  Cabin  or  The  Beeches  to  some  enter- 
tainment the  other  girls  had  planned. 

"  My  oh !  What  a  buttahfly  I'm  getting  to  be !  " 
laughed  Lloyd  one  evening  as  she  went  into  her 
mother's  room  to  have  her  dress  buttoned.  "  A 
hawse -back  ride  this  mawning,  a  picnic  this  aftah- 
noon,  and  now  the  rustic  dance  in  the  Mallards' 
barn  to-night.  But  nevah  mind,  little  mothah,"  sha 
added  with  a  hug,  as  she  caught  a  wistful  look  on 


SPANISH  LESSONS  1 53 

Mrs.  Sherman's  face.  "  It'll  all  be  ovah  soon. 
This  is  the  last  summah  of  my  teens.  When  I  am 
old  and  twenty  I'll  nevah  leave  yoah  side.  '  I'll  sit 
on  a  cushion  and  sew  a  fine  seam  '  and  take  all  the 
housekeeping  cares  off  yoah  shouldahs  as  a  dutiful 
daughtah  should." 

Mrs.  Sherman  gave  her  shoulder  a  caressing  pat 
as  she  fastened  the  last  button.  "  I'm  glad  to  have 
you  go,  dear,"  she  answered,  "  especially  to  all  the 
out-door  merry-makings.  They  keep  you  young 
and  well.  Papa  Jack  and  I  will  walk  over  after 
awhile  and  look  on." 

"  The  Mallard  barn  dances  are  always  so  much 
fun,"  said  Lloyd,  lingering  to  give  a  fir- 1  touch  to 
her  mother's  toilet.  "  Wait !  Yoah  side  combs  are 
in  too  high,  and  yoah  collah  isn't  pinned  straight  in 
the  back.  How  did  you  evah  manage  to  dress  yoah- 
self  right  bef oah  I  grew  up  to  tend  to  you  ?  " 

As  she  made  the  changes  with  all  a  young  girl's 
particularity  about  trifles,  she  went  on,  "  That  last 
one  they  had  three  yeahs  ago  was  lovely.  Will  you 
evah  forget  the  way  Rob  cake-walked  with  Mrs. 
Bisbee?  It  makes  me  laugh  to  this  day,  whenevah 
I  think  of  it." 

"  I  suppose  Rob  will  hardly  be  there  to-night," 
said   Mrs.    Sherman,   smiling  as   she   recalled   the 


154    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

ridiculous  appearance  he  had  made.  His  cake-walk 
had  been  the  feature  of  the  evening. 

"  No,  indeed,"  answered  Lloyd.  "  He's  no  moah 
likely  to  be  there  than  the  man  in  the  moon.  I  wish 
he  would  though.  He  used  to  be  the  life  of  every- 
thing. We  saw  him  this  evening  as  we  drove  home 
from  the  picnic.  He  had  just  come  out  from  town, 
and  he  looked  so  hot  and  dusty  and  ti'ahed  it  made 
me  feel  bad.  He's  like  a  strangah  now,  didn't  stop 
to  speak,  only  lifted  his  hat  and  turned  in  at  the 
gate  at  Oaklea,  as  if  he  hadn't  gone  on  a  thousand 
drives  with  us.  He  ought  to  have  been  interested 
in  what  we  were  doing  for  old  times'  sake." 

Lloyd  had  not  thought  of  Rob  for  days,  but  she 
was  reminded  of  him  many  times  that  evening,  the 
affair  at  the  Mallards'  barn  was  so  much  like  the 
one  to  which  he  had  taken  her  three  years  before. 
The  same  old  negro  fiddlers  furnished  the  music. 
The  same  flickering  lantern  light  made  weird  shad- 
ows on  the  rough  walls,  and  the  same  sweet  smell 
of  new  hay  filled  the  place.  As  the  music  of  the 
Virginia  reel  began  she  thought  of  the  way  Rob 
had  romped  through  it  that  other  time,  and  wished 
she  could  see  him  once  more  as  jolly  and  care-free 
as  he  was  then. 

"  Why  can  one  nevah  have  two  good  times  ex- 


SPANISH  LESSONS  155 

actly  alike  ? "  she  wondered  wistfully.  She  was 
standing  near  the  wide  double  doors,  looking  out 
across  the  fields  as  she  thought  about  it  later,  recall- 
ing how  many  things  were  alike  on  the  two  occa- 
sions, even  the  colour  of  the  dress  she  wore.  She 
remembered  that  because  Rob  had  said  she  looked 
like  an  apple-blossom,  and  it  was  rare  indeed  for 
him  to  make  such  complimentary  speeches.  It 
wasn't  best  for  girls  to  hear  nice  things  about  them- 
selves often,  he  said.  It  made  them  hard  to  get 
along  with,  too  uppity. 

The  music  stopped  and  Leland  Harcourt  came 
to  find  her.  She  was  looking  so  pensively  past  the 
gay  scene  that  he  bent  over  her,  humming  in  a  low 
tone: 

« *  What's  this  dull  town  to  me  ? 
Robin  Adair? 
What  was  't  1  wished  to  see  ? 
What  wished  to  hear  ?  * " 

She  started  with  a  little  laugh,  blushing  slightly 
because  he  seemed  to  have  read  her  thoughts. 
"  Robin  Adair "  was  one  of  Mrs.  Moore's  old 
names  for  Rob,  and  she  had  been  wishing  for  him. 

Over  at  Oaklea,  Rob  sat  scowling  at  a  book  spread 
out  before  him  on  the  library  table.  He  was  think- 
ing of  Harcourt  as  he  had  seen  him  on  the  front 


156   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

seat  beside  Lloyd,  in  his  cool-looking  white  flannels, 
the  very  embodiment  of  gentlemanly  leisure.  No 
doubt  she  noticed  the  contrast  between  them,  he  all 
dusty  and  dishevelled  from  his  day's  work  and  the 
trip  home  on  the  hot  car.  Not  that  he  would  change 
places,  not  that  he  regretted  for  an  instant  the  part 
he  had  to  take  in  the  grimy  working  world.  But  the 
chance  encounter  had  suddenly  opened  his  eyes  to 
all  that  he  had  had  to  sacrifice  for  that  work.  Until 
now  it  had  not  even  left  him  time  to  realize  how 
much  he  had  given  up.  Now  to  find  this  stranger 
enjoying  all  that  was  once  his,  stung  him  to  envy. 
He  smiled  grimly  as  he  recognized  it  as  envy.  He 
had  thought  himself  free  from  such  a  childish 
trait.  But  he  could  not  smile  away  the  feeling.  It 
persisted  till  it  accomplished  more  than  the  old 
Judge's  advice  and  his  mother's  pleadings,  that  all 
work  and  no  play  was  bad  for  him.  Closing  his 
book  he  announced  his  intention  of  walking  over  to 
The  Locusts. 

As  he  went  up  the  avenue  he  heard  the  distant 
scraping  of  fiddles  and  the  rhythmic  beating  of  feet 
in  the  Mallard  barn.  He  had  forgotten  that  it  was 
the  night  of  the  rustic  dance. 

He  was  disappointed  at  finding  no  one  at  home 
but  the  old  Colonel.    But  his  welcome  was  so  cordial 


SPANISH  LESSONS  157 

that  he  stayed  even  longer  than  he  had  intended. 
The  Colonel  always  had  the  latest  news  of  every 
one,  but  to-night  he  had  to  talk  first  of  the  wonder- 
ful progress  Lloyd  was  making  in  Spanish,  and  what 
a  fine  fellow  that  young  Harcourt  was. 

"  Didn't  like  the  chap  at  all  at  first,"  he  confided. 
"  Thought  he  was  too  much  of  a  confounded  for- 
eigner; but  I'm  a  big  enough  man  I  hope  to  ac- 
knowledge a  mistake,  and  I  own  up  I  was  preju- 
diced." 

When  Rob  finally  rose  to  start  home,  the  Colo- 
nel would  not  let  him  go  until  he  had  promised  to 
come  again  the  next  night,  when  Lloyd  and  Betty 
should  be  at  home.  Afterwards  he  regretted  hav- 
ing made  the  promise.  Although  he  went  early 
Harcourt  was  already  there,  seemingly  as  much  at 
home  as  if  he  were  a  member  of  the  family.  It 
made  Rob  feel  like  a  stranger  to  see  this  newcomer 
usurping  the  place  that  he  had  always  filled  in  the 
Sherman  household. 

It  grated  on  him  also  to  hear  Lloyd  saying,  "  Si, 
senor "  and  "  gracias "  when  she  addressed  Har- 
court, and  grated  still  more  for  Harcourt  to  turn 
to  her  as  he  did  continually  with  some  aside  in 
Spanish.  Never  more  than  a  phrase  or  a  word, 
and  "  just  for  practice,"  they  laughingly  explained, 


158   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

but  it  seemed  to  emphasize  a  tie  that  had  drawn 
them  together,  and  —  Rob's  remoteness. 

■He  left  early.  Walking  slowly  down  the  avenue 
he  thought  of  the  hundreds  of  times  he  had  passed 
under  those  old  locust-trees  on  sweet  starlighted 
summer  nights  like  this.  What  a  goodly  company 
of  old  friends  they  were!  The  kind  that  never 
change.  He  looked  up,  vaguely  grateful  for  the 
soft  lisping  of  leaves  above  him.  They  seemed  to 
understand  why  he  was  going,  why  he  could  not 
stay. 

Half-way  down  the  avenue  he  heard  the  tinkle 
of  Lloyd's  harp,  and  then  her  voice  beginning  to 
sing.  The  seat  beside  the  measuring  tree  was  just 
ahead  and  he  made  his  way  to  it,  quietly,  on  tip-toe 
almost,  that  he  might  lose  no  note.  But  it  was  an 
unknown  tongue  she  was  singing,  a  song  that 
Harcourt  had  taught  her,  and  Rob  could  not  un- 
derstand a  word.  It  was  so  symbolical  of  the 
change  that  had  come  between  them  that  a  fierce 
impulse  seized  him  to  rush  back  to  the  house  and 
throw  the  interloper  out  of  the  window.  Then 
he  smiled  bitterly  at  his  own  vehemence.  What 
right  had  he  to  be  so  savage  over  her  friendship? 
He  was  her  big  brother  only,  and  even  that  merely 
in  name,  because  she  had  chosen  to  call  him  so  in 


SPANISH  LESSONS  159 

those  years  that  they  had  been  such  loyal  good 
chums,,  It  was  little  and  mean  and  selfish  of  him  to 
begrudge  her  the  slightest  thing  that  would  give 
her  pleasure.  This  man  with  his  fortune,  his  ac- 
complishments, his  rare  social  gifts  had  everything 
to  offer,  while  he,  —  he  had  not  even  time  to  put 
at  her  disposal.  Time  to  find  bypaths  to  happiness 
for  her  — 

The  sweet  clear  voice  sang  on,  the  old  locusts 
rustled  softly  as  the  night  wind  stirred  them.  Then 
the  song  stopped,  and  for  a  long  time  he  sat  staring 
ahead  of  him  with  unseeing  eyes.  At  last  he  rose, 
and  taking  a  step  towards  the  tree  beside  the  bench, 
passed  his  hand  over  the  bark,  groping  for  the 
notches  he  knew  were  there  but  could  not  see. 

He  paused  at  the  one  a  little  higher  than  his 
shoulder,  and  then  his  fingers  found  the  four  leaf 
clover  he  had  carved  beside  it,  the  last  time  Lloyd 
had  stood  up  to  be  measured.  He  could  almost  see 
her  standing  there  again  like  Elaine,  the  lily-maid, 
fair-haired  and  smiling  while  he  repeated  the  charm 
of  the  four  leaf  clover : 

" «  Love  be  true  to  her  — 
Joy  draw  near  to  her  — 
Fortune  find  what  your 
Gifts  can  do  for  her  —  "* 


l6o    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

He  had  forgotten  how  the  lines  went  but  it  made 
no  difference.  Anyhow  they  voiced  what  had 
always  been  his  dearest  wish  for  her,  and  standing 
there  in  the  dark  he  vowed  savagely  that  any  man 
who  stood  in  the  way  of  the  old  charm's  coming 
true,  should  have  him  to  reckon  with. 

When  he  swung  off  down  the  path,  taking  the 
short  cut  to  Oaklea,  his  hat  was  pulled  grimly  down 
over  his  eyes,  and  his  mouth  was  set  in  a  firm  hard 
line.  He  did  not  open  his  books  again  that  night. 
Lying  on  the  couch  by  his  open  window,  he  watched 
the  lights  at  The  Locusts  shining  through  the  trees, 
till  the  last  one  went  out,  and  he  knew  that  Har« 
court  had  gone. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

"  SHADOWS    OF    THE    WORLD    APPEAR  " 

The  long  July  days  slipped  by,  and  Lloyd,  look- 
ing back  on  them  as  Hildegarde  looked  into  her 
magic  glass,  saw  only  pleasant  scenes  mirrored  in 
their  memory.  The  fortunate  things,  the  smiling 
faces,  the  pleasant  happenings  were  hers,  and  for 
a  time  even  other  people's  troubles,  those  shadows 
of  the  world  that  are  always  with  us,  left  her  daily 
outlook  undimmed. 

Like  Hildegarde,  too,  she  went  on  with  her 
weaving,  but  wholly  unconscious  that  the  shuttle 
of  her  thoughts  was  shaping  her  web  to  fit  the 
shoulders  of  the  dark-eyed  knight  who  came  often- 
est.     Mrs.  Sherman  saw  it  and  was  troubled. 

"  Jack,"  she  said  to  her  husband  one  afternoon, 

when  he  had  come  out   from   town   earlier  than 

usual,  and  thw  were  wandering  around  the  shady 

grounds    together,    planning    some    improvements, 

'*  I'm  afraid  those  Spanish  lessons  are  a  mistake. 

i6i 


l62   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Lloyd  is  seeing  entirely  too  much  of  Mr.  Harcourt. 
He  is  here  morning,  noon  and  night." 

Mr.  Sherman  gave  a  quick  glance  towards  the 
tennis  court  where  the  two  were  finishing  a  lively 
game.  "  Don't  you  worry,  Elizabeth,"  was  his 
placid  answer.  "  It  isn't  as  if  she'd  never  been 
used  to  such  devotion.  She's  never  known  any- 
thing else.  Malcolm  and  Keith  used  to  spend  fully 
as  much  time  with  her,  and  Rob  Moore  fairly  lived 
over  here." 

"  Yes,  but  this  is  different,"  protested  Mrs.  Sher- 
man. "  They  were  mere  boys,  and  she  dominated 
them,  but  Leland  Harcourt  is  a  man,  and  an  experi- 
enced one  socially,  and  he  is  dominating  her.  I  can 
see  it  in  her  quick  deference  to  his  opinions,  and 
her  evident  desire  to  please  him.  Not  evident  to 
him,  perhaps,  but  plain  -enough  to  me.  I've  been 
thinking  that  it  might  be  a  good  thing  for  us  to 
go  to  the  springs  for  awhile  or  to  the  sea-shore  or 
some  place  where  she'd  meet  other  people.  In  a 
quiet  little  country  place  like  this  a  man  like  Leland 
Harcourt  looms  up  big  on  a  young  girl's  horizon; 
a  girl  just  out  of  school,  eager  for  new  interests. 
It  isn't  wise  in  us  to  allow  her  to  be  restricted  just 
to  his  society,  when  we  could  so  easily  give  her  the 
safe-guard  of  contrasts." 


"SHADOWS  OF   THE   WORLD  APPEAR*    1 63 

Mr.  Sherman  looked  down  at  his  wife  with  an 
indulgent  smile. 

"  Don't  you  worry,''  he  repeated.  "  Lloyd  will 
do  a  lot  of  romantic  day-dreaming  probably,  but 
she  has  my  '  yard-stick  '  and  I  have  her  promise." 

"  But  Jack,  I  verily  believe  the  child  thinks  he 
measures  up  to  all  your  requirements.  And  really 
there  is  nothing  one  can  urge  against  his  charac- 
ter. It's  more  a  matter  of  temperament.  I  am  sure 
she  couldn't  be  happy  with  him.  She's  just  >at  the 
romantic  age  now  to  be  very  much  impressed  with 
that  kind  of  a  man.  If  she  were  older  she  would 
see  his  shallowness  —  his  lack  of  purpose,  his  in- 
tense selfishness.  I  don't  think  that  we  oug'ht  to 
shut  our  eyes  to  the  possible  outcome  of  this  con- 
stant companionship  we  are  allowing." 

"  Well,"  he  answered  hesitatingly,  slow  to  ac- 
knowledge his  wife's  distrust  of  Lloyd's  judgment, 
yet  quick  to  see  the  wisdom  of  her  point  of  view. 
"  Maybe  you  are  right.  But,"  he  added  wistfully, 
"  I  had  hoped  to  keep  her  home  this  summer.  She 
has  been  away  at  school  so  long  —  and  she'll  be 
in  town  so  much  next  winter  if  she  makes  her 
debut.  Wait  till  I  have  had  a  talk  with  her  before 
you  plan  any  trips." 

"  But  don't  you  see,"  urged  Mrs.  Sherman,  *  it 


164    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

is  something-  too  intangible  to  discuss.  To  speak 
to  her  about  it  now,  to  make  any  opposition  to  him 
at  all,  may  quicken  her  interest  in  him  and  make  her 
champion  his  cause.  That  would  be  fatal,  and  yet 
it's  just  as  dangerous  to  wait.  Love  at  that  age 
is  like  a  fog.  It  comes  creeping  up  so  gradually 
that  you  don't  realize  what  is  enveloping  you,  till 
you're  completely  lost  in  it,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  shut  out." 

"  You  speak  from  experience  ? "  he  said  teas- 
ingly. 

"  You  know  very  well,"  she  confessed  laugh- 
ingly, "  what  a  befogged  state-/  was  in.  All  papa's 
breathing  out  of  '  threatening  and  slaughter  '  didn't 
make  the  slightest  difference.  I  was  blind  and  deaf 
to  everything  but  you.  And  I'd  want  Lloyd  to  be 
the  same,"  she  added  hastily,  "  if  you  were  as  un- 
reasonable as  papa  was  then.  But  the  circumstances 
are  too  different  to  be  compared.  I'm  simply  warn- 
ing you  that  the  Little  Colonel's  name  was  not 
lightly  given.  She  has  not  only  r*\  my  determina- 
tion in  her  makeup,  but  her  grandfather's  as  well." 

Here  the  gardener  met  them,  and  the  conversa- 
tion dropped.  The  next  half  hour  was  spent  in 
consultation  over  some  changes  to  be  made  in  the 
conservatory. 


"SHADOWS  OF  THE   WORLD  APPEAR"    i6§ 

When  they  went  back  to  the  house  Leland  Har- 
court  had  gone,  and  Lloyd  was  just  stepping  into 
Doctor  Shelby's  buggy,  which  was  drawn  up  in 
front  of  the  house.  The  old  doctor  waited  for  them 
to  come  within  hearing  distance  before  he  leaned 
out  and  called : 

"  I'm  just  borrowing  the  Little  Colonel  for 
awhile.  There's  a  case  over  at  Rollington  that 
needs  the  attention  of  her  King's  Daughters  Cir- 
cle, and  I'm  taking  her  over  to  investigate  it.  We'll 
be  home  before  dark." 

"  All  right,"  called  Mr.  Sherman,  waving  his  hat 
as  Lloyd  looked  back  at  them  with  a  smile  and  a 
flutter  of  her  handkerchief.  During  the  winter 
that  Lloyd  had  joined  the  Circle,  and  in  the  sum- 
mer vacations  following,  it  had  been  a  matter  of 
frequent  occurrence  for  the  old  doctor  to  take  her 
with  him  on  such  errands.  Remembering  how  in- 
terested Lloyd  had  become  in  many  of  the  cases, 
Mrs.  Sherman  breathed  a  sigh  of  thankfulness, 
hoping  that  this  might  prove  to  be  one  that  would 
enlist  her  sympathies  and  occupy  so  much  of  her 
time  that  it  would  make  a  serious  break  in  the 
Spanish  lessons. 

It  had  been  a  happy  afternoon  for  Lloyd.  If 
she  had  stopped  and  tried  to  recall  what  made  it  sck 


x§6    UTTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RMING 

she  could  not  have  mentioned  any  particular  thing. 
To  be  young  and  well  and  filled  with  the  same  glow 
that  made  the  summer  day  a  joy  was  enough,  but 
to  feel  that  some  one  whose  opinion  she  valued 
very  much  found  her  charming,  and  said  so  with 
every  glance  of  his  dark  eyes,  was  more  than 
enough.  It  made  her  cup  of  happiness  complete 
and  brimmed  it  oven 

The  doctor  was  pouring  out  a  tale  of  somebody's 
woes,  but  the  trace  of  a  smile  lingered  on  her  lips 
as  she  made  a  polite  attempt  to  listen.  She  could 
not  quite  shut  out  the  thought  of  that  last  game 
of  tennis,  and  the  trivial  pleasantries  that  had  gone 
to  make  up  the  sum  of  her  great  content.  There 
was  a  dreamy,  far-away  look  in  her  eyes  as  she 
listened.  The  Spanish  serenade  that  Leland  Har- 
court  had  sung  before  he  left  kept  repeating  itself 
over  and  over,  a  sort  of  undercurrent  to  what  the 
doctor  was  saying.  She  beat  time  to  it  with  her 
finger-tips  on  the  side  of  the  buggy.  Once  it  rose 
so  insistently  that  she  lost  what  the  doctor  was 
saying,  and  came  to  herself  with  a  start  when  a 
familiar  name  arrested  her  attention. 

"  Ned  Bannon's  wife !  "  she  repeated  in  astonish- 
ment.   "  You  suahly  can't  mean  that  it's  Ida  Shane 


"SHADOWS  OF  THE   WORLD  APPEAR"    167 

who's  sick  ovah  in  that  tumbledown  cottage  of  the 
McCarty's!" 

"  I  surely  do,"  he  answered.  "  She  didn't  want 
to  come  back  to  this  part  of  the  country,  goodness 
knows.  She  remembers  what  a  commotion  it 
raised  when  she  eloped  from  the  Seminary  with 
Ned,  five  years  ago.  But  Ned  has  scarcely  drawn 
a  sober  breath  for  the  last  year.  She's  sure  of  get- 
ting needlework  here,  and  with  little  Wardo  to 
consider  there  was  nothing  for  her  to  do  but  put 
her  pride  in  her  pocket  and  come." 

"  Little  Wardo !  "  breathed  Lloyd  wonderingly. 
The  ride  seemed  full  of  surprises. 

"  Yes,  she  has  a  little  son  about  four  years  old, 
I  judge.  And  it  is  on  his  account  that  I  have 
asked  the  help  of  the  King's  Daughters.  He'll 
have  to  be  taken  away  from  her  till  she's  better, 
•for  she  is  morbidly  sensitive  about  keeping  Ned's 
failings  from  him.  She  has  never  allowed  him  to 
find  out  that  his  father  is  a  drunkard.  She  makes 
a  hero  of  him  to  the  little  fellow.  Seems  to  think 
that  he'll  blame  her  for  giving  him  such  a  father 
by  marrying  a  man  whom  she  had  been  warned 
would  bring  her  nothing  but  trouble  and  disgrace. 
She's  desperately  ill,  and  of  course  in  her  weak 


!68    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

condition  she  magnifies  the  matter.  It  has  become 
a  mania  with  her." 

"  Poah  Violet !  "  exclaimed  Lloyd  in  distress, 
her  thoughts  flying  back  to  the  scene  in  the  school 
orchard  five  years  ago,  when  watching  the  glimmer 
of  the  pearl  on  Ida's  white  hand  in  the  moonlight 
she  had  been  thrilled  by  her  whisper :  "  He  says 
that's  what  my  life  means  to  him  —  a  pearl ;  and 
that  my  influence  can  make  him  the  man  I  want 
him  to  be.  Oh,  Princess!  I'd  give  my  life  to  keep 
him  straight !  " 

Not  even  an  echo  of  the  serenade  was  in  her 
memory  now.  Her  knowledge  of  Ida's  nearness 
seemed  to  bring  her  old  school-friend  actually  be- 
fore her :  the  faint  odour  of  violets,  the  shy  glance 
of  her  appealing  violet  eyes  under  the  long  lashes, 
the  bewitching  dimple  at  the  corner  of  her  mouth, 
the  flash  of  her  rings,  the  sweep  of  her  long  skirts, 
the  soft  hair  gleaming  under  the  big-plumed  picture 
hat,  more  than  all  the  air  of  romance  and  mystery 
that  surrounded  her  because  of  the  pearl  and  the 
secret  engagement  to  her  "  Edwardo." 

"  I  hadn't  intended  for  her  to  see  you,"  said  the 
doctor,  when  her  exclamations  and  questions  re- 
vealed to  him  the  intimacy  that  had  once  existed 
between  them.     "  But  under  the  circumstances  it 


"SHADOWS   OF   THE    WORLD   APPEAR"    169 

will  be  the  best  thing  I  can  do.  I'll  go  in  first  and 
prepare  her  for  the  meeting,  however.  She  thinks 
she  hasn't  a  friend  left  on  earth,  on  account  of  her 
unhappy  marriage.  Everybody  warned  her  against 
it." 

The  front  door  stood  open,  and  Lloyd  sat  down 
on  the  broken  step  to  wait.  It  seemed  impossible 
that  she  was  going  to  find  Ida,  the  embodiment  of 
daintiness  and  refinement,  in  this  dilapidated  old 
place.  The  whitewash  had  long  ago  dropped  in 
scales  from  the  rough  walls.  The  window-panes 
were  broken,  the  shutters  sagging,  half  the  pickets 
off  the  fence.  Not  a  spear  of  grass  ventured  up 
in  the  barren  yard,  where  a  rank  unpruned  peach- 
tree  struggled  for  its  life  in  the  baked  earth.  The 
house  stood  so  near  the  road  that  the  thick  summer 
dust  rolled  in  suffocatingly  whenever  a  vehicle 
passed. 

"  How  can  people  exist  in  such  an  awful  desolate, 
forsaken  spot  ?  "  she  wondered,  looking  around  with 
a  shudder  of  disgust.  That  Ida,  dainty  beauty-lov- 
ing Ida,  who  scorned  everything  that  was  common 
and  coarse,  should  be  lying  inside  in  that  dark  room 
was  more  than  she  could  believe. 

A  wagon  rattled  by,  and  she  put  her  handker- 
chief up  to  her  face,  stifled  by  the  cloud  of  dust 


170    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

that  rose  in  its  wake.  When  she  ventured  to  take 
it  down  again  and  draw  a  long  breath,  a  chubby, 
barefooted  child  was  standing  in  the  path  in  front 
of  her,  regarding  her  curiously.  The  wagon  made 
so  much  noise  that  she  had  not  heard  his  bare  feet 
pattering  around  the  house.  She  gave  a  little  start 
of  surprise,  then  smiled  at  him,  for  he  was  an  at- 
tractive little  fellow,  despite  the  fact  that  his  face 
was  smeared  with  the  remains  of  the  bread  and 
jam  he  had  just  been  enjoying  at  one  of  the  neigh- 
bours, and  his  gingham  apron  was  in  rags.  He 
had  caught  it  on  the  barb  wire  fence  as  he  climbed 
through. 

As  he  smiled  back  at  her  shyly  from  under  his 
long  lashes,  Lloyd's  interest  quickened,  for  there 
was  no  mistaking  the  likeness  of  those  violet  eyes 
and  the  dimple  that  came  at  the  corner  of  his  cupid's 
bow  of  a  mouth.  They  were  so  like  Ida's  that  she 
smiled  and  said  confidently,  "  You're  Wardo. 
Aren't  you !  " 

He  nodded  gravely,  then  after  another  long 
silent  scrutiny,  turned  away  to  pour  the  sand  out 
of  the  old  tin  can  he  was  carrying,  in  a  pile  under 
the  peach-tree.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  jam  and 
the  dirt  Lloyd  would  have  caught  him  up  and 
kissed  him,  he  was  such  a  dear  little  thing,  with  a 


"SHADOWS  OF  THE   WORLD  APPEAR"    171 

thatch  of  short  golden  curls.  But  her  fastidious 
dislike  of  touching  anything  dirty  made  her  draw 
back.  It  was  well  for  the  furtherance  of  their  ac- 
quaintance that  she  did  so.  He  was  not  accustomed 
to  caresses  from  strangers.  He  accepted  her  pres- 
ence on  the  door-step  without  question,  and  pres- 
ently, as  the  moments  passed  and  she  made  no  move- 
ment towards  him,  he  went  up  to  her  with  friendly 
curiosity. 

"Is  you  got  a  sand-pile  to  your  house?"  he 
asked. 

"  No,"  she  confessed,  feeling  that  he  would  con- 
sider her  lacking  on  that  account  and  that  she  must 
hasten  to  mention  other  attractions.  "  But  I  have 
a  red  and  green  bird  that  can  talk,  and  a  little 
black  pony  named  '  Tarbaby.'  It's  so  little  that 
there's  nobody  at  my  house  now  small  enough  to 
ride  it.  So  it  stays  all  day  long  in  the  field  and 
eats  grass." 

"  I'm  little  enough  to  ride  it,"  he  began  con- 
fidently. 

Just  then  the  doctor  came  out,  and  she  sprang 
up,  her  heart  throbbing.  "  I'm  going  now  for  the 
nurse,"  he  said  in  a  low  tone.  "  She's  due  on  the 
next  train.  Keep  her  as  quiet  as  possible.  Of 
course  you'H  have  to  let  her  free  her  mind,  but 


172    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

promise  her  almost  anything-  to  soothe  her.  I'll 
be  back  in  quarter  of  an  hour." 

Frightened  at  being  left  alone  with  such  a  weight 
of  responsibility  thrust  upon  her,  Lloyd  tiptoed 
into  the  house.  In  the  dim  light  she  almost  stum- 
bled over  the  cot  on  which  Ned  Bannon  lay  in  a 
drunken  stupor,  and  her  first  glance  at  the  bed  be- 
yond made  her  draw  back  in  dismay.  She  never 
would  have  recognized  the  white  face  on  the  pil- 
low as  Ida's,  had  it  not  been  for  the  appealing  eyes 
turned  towards  her. 

Five  years  of  poverty  and  illness  and  neglect  had 
changed  the  pretty  little  school-girl  into  a  faded, 
care-worn  woman.  She  had  been  crying  ever  since 
she  was  taken  sick,  and  now  was  so  weak  and 
hysterical  that  she  caught  at  Lloyd  with  a  cry,  and 
clung  to  her  sobbing. 

"  Oh,  it  kills  me  to  have  you  find  me  this  way !  " 
she  gasped,  "  when  I've  tried  so  long  to  hide  what 
we've  come  to.  But  I'm  glad  you've  come,  for  the 
baby's  sake!  Oh,  Lloyd,  what's  going  to  become  of 
my  little  Wardo!" 

It  was  several  minutes  before  she  could  talk  co- 
herently, and  then  she  beg"an  to  sob  out  the  story 
of  her  married  life,  her  miserable  failure  to  reform 
Ned.     Lloyd  tried  to  sto|>  her  presently,  thinking 


"SHADOWS   OF   THE   WORLD   APPEAR"    173 

she  was  becoming  delirious,  but  she  might  as  weli 
have  tried  to  stop  a  high  tide. 

"  Oh,  I  have  been  so  proud !  "  she  sobbed.  "  I 
couldn't  tell  anybody.  I  couldn't  tell  you  now  if 
I  wasn't  afraid  that  I  might  die,  like  that  poor 
woman  across  the  street  last  night.  She's  left  five 
little  children.  But  I  can't  leave  my  little  Wardo 
like  that!  "  she  broke  out  desperately.  "  I  know  he 
has  inherited  Ned's  awful  appetite.  I  must  stay 
and  help  him  fight  it,  for  it's  all  my  fault.  I  gave 
him  such  a  father.  A  father  that  he  can  never  be 
proud  of!  A  father  that  will  be  only  a  disgrace 
to  him !  Oh,  why  didn't  somebody  warn  me  that 
it  was  not  only  a  husband  I  was  choosing  but  my 
little  Wardo's  father!  Nobody  ever  told  me  that, 
and  I  was  so  young  I  never  thought  of  any  one  but 
myself.  And  now  the  poor  little  innocent  soul  will 
have  to  suffer  for  it  all  his  life  long!  " 

She  was  throwing  herself  about  so  wildly  that 
Lloyd  was  frightened,  and  rose  from  her  chair  to 
call  one  of  the  neighbours.  But  she  could  not  break 
away.  Ida  caught  at  her  dress  and  held  her  fast 
in  her  frenzied  clasp. 

"  But  I  tell  you  I  won't  let  him  grow  up  to  be 
like  that !  "  she  cried  with  her  eyes  glaring  wildly 
at  the  drunken  man  on  the  cot  across  the  room. 


174    LITTLE  GOLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMBS  RIUING 

"  I'll  kill  him  with  my  own  hands  first,  while  he 
is  little  and  good.  God  would  understand,  wouldn't 
he?  He  couldn't  blame  me  for  trying  to  save  my 
baby!  But  if  he  did  I'd  have  to  do  it  anyway.  I'd 
have  to  do  it  and  take  the  punishment.  I  can't  have 
my  little  Wardo  grow  up  to  be  like  that." 

The  sound  of  his  name  brought  the  child  to  the 
door.  He  came  pattering  in,  and  climbing  up  on 
the  bed  beside  his  mother,  stroked  her  face  with  his 
dirty  little  dimpled  hand.  The  soft  touch  quieted 
Ida  in  an  instant,  and  with  an  effort  to  speak  calmly 
she  looked  up  at  Lloyd. 

"  The  doctor  said  the  baby  must  go  away  for 
awhile,  for  fear  of  the  fever.  But  I  can't  give  him 
up  to  just  anybody,  Lloyd.  The  neighbours  have 
been  good  and  kind,  but  I'm  afraid  he  might  find 
out  from  some  of  the  children  about  Ned  —  you 
know.  But  with  you  —  Oh,  Lloyd,  would  it  be 
asking  too  much  if  —  " 

She  stopped  with  her  question  half  uttered,  but 
the  imploring  look  in  her  eyes  was  a  prayer  that 
Lloyd  could  not  resist,  and  she  held  out  her 
arms  toward  the  little  figure  cuddled  up  on  the 
bed. 

"  I'll  take  him  till  you're  better,"  she  promised 
impulsively. 


"SHADOWS  OF   THE    WORLD  APPEAR"    175 

The  tears  welled  up  in  Ida's  eyes  again.  She  was 
so  weak  the  least  thing  started  them. 

"  He's  never  been  away  from  me  a  single  night 
in  his  life/'  she  said  brokenly.  "  I  couldn't  give 
him  up  to  anybody  but  you."  Then  seeing  the 
frightened  look  that  crept  into  the  child's  face  as 
he  listened  to  the  conversation  which  he  but  half 
understood,  she  wiped  her  eyes  and  smiled  at  him 
tremulously. 

"  Dear  little  son,  you  want  to  help  mother  get 
well,  don't  you,  lamb?  Then  go  with  mother's 
dearest  friend  for  awhile.  She'll  take  care  of  you 
while  the  good  doctor  makes  me  well.  And  she'll 
tell  you  stories  and  make  you  have  such  a  happy 
time." 

"  And  let  you  ride  on  the  black  pony,"  broke  in 
Lloyd  eagerly,  anxious  to  clear  away  the  troubled 
pucker  on  the  child's  face  that  came  at  mention  of 
a  separation. 

"  An'  hear  the  wed  and  gween  bird  talk !  "  he 
added  himself,  his  face  lighting  up  at  the  thought. 
Then  he  laid  his  plump  little  hand  on  Ida's  hot 
cheek  to  compel  her  attention.  It  was  a  gesture 
she  loved,  and  she  kissed  his  fingers  passionately 
as  he  said  with  an  eager  voice,  "  She  has  a  bird 


176    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

that  can  talk,  muv'ah.     I'll  go  and  hear  what  it 
says  an'  n'en  I'll  come  back  an'  tell  you." 

Evidently  his  idea  of  separation  was  based  on 
the  length  of  the  neighbourhood  visits  he  had  made, 
and  he  accepted  Lloyd's  invitation  willingly,  expect- 
ing a  speedy  return. 

"  Let's  go  wite  away,  Dea'st  Fwend,"  he  ex- 
claimed, wriggling  down  off  the  bed.  "  I'll  get 
my  hat." 

If  anything  had  been  needed  to  complete  Lloyd's 
surrender  to  the  little  fellow's  charms,  it  was  the 
sweet  way  in  which  he  gave  her  the  title  "  Dearest 
Friend."  That  was  what  his  mother  had  called 
her,  and  he  thought  it  was  her  name.  She  caught 
him  up  and  kissed  him,  despite  the  jam  streaks  and 
the  dirt. 

"  Come  on  and  have  yoah  face  washed  and  yoah 
curls  brushed,  so  we'll  be  all  ready  when  the  buggy 
comes  back,"  she  said,  hurrying  to  make  him  pre- 
sentable before  his  mood  could  change. 

As  she  gathered  his  clothes  together  and  packed 
them  for  the  short  journey  in  a  dress  box  which 
she  found  under  the  bed,  it  made  an  ache  grip 
her  throat  to  see  how  Ida  had  thrown  the  shield 
of  her  mother-love  around  him  in  every  way  pos- 
sible.    There  was  no  mark  of  poverty  here.     She 


"SHADOWS  OF  THE   WORLD  APPEAR"    n* 

had  cut  up  her  own  clothes,  relics  of  a  happier  time, 
to  make  the  little  linen  suits  that  were  so  pretty 
and  becoming.  No  child  in  the  Valley  was  better 
dad,  or  looked  so  much  like  a  little  aristocrat,  as 
long  as  she  was  able  to  give  him  her  daily  attention. 

He  was  so  accustomed  to  being  washed  and 
brushed  and  dressed  that  he  made  no  objection  to 
what  most  children  of  that  age  consider  an  unnec- 
essary process,  and  when  Lloyd  went  about  it  with 
unpractised  fingers,  he  gravely  corrected  her  mis- 
takes, and  laughed  when  she  made  a  play  of  the 
buttonholes  being  hungry  mouths,  that  swallowed 
the  buttons  in  a  hurry.  Never  in  her  life  had  she 
exerted  herself  so  much  to  be  entertaining,  for  she 
wanted  to  take  him  away  without  a  scene.  She 
wanted,  too.,  for  him  to  look  his  best,  that  he  might 
win  his  own  way  at  The  Locusts.  She  thought 
with  a  trifle  of  uneasiness  that  her  impulsive  act 
might  not  meet  her  family's  entire  approval. 

Ida's  separation  from  him  was  a  painful  one, 
for  she  realized  her  condition,  and  knew  that  it  was 
possible  that  this  might  be  her  last  sight  of  him. 
As  Lloyd  turned  away  with  her  parting  cry  ringing 
in  her  ears,  "  Oh,  be  good  to  him !  Be  good  to 
him !  "  a  great  tenderness  sprang  up  in  her  heart 
for  the  child  who  put  his  hand  in  hers  so  trustingly, 


*7&    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

and  trotted  away  beside  her  obediently  at  his  moth- 
er's bidding,,  At  the  cot  he  stopped  to  clamber  up 
and  kiss  the  red  face,  burrowed  down  in  the  pil- 
lows in  a  sodden  sleep.  "  My  poor  farvah's  sick 
too,"  he  explained  looking  up  at  her,  as  if  bespeak- 
ing sympathy  for  him  also. 

Once  in  the  buggy,  while  they  waited  for  the 
doctor  to  unfasten  the  hitch-rein,  he  reached  up 
and  put  his  hand  on  her  cheek  in  his  baby  fashion 
to  ask  her  a  question.  The  touch  brought  the  tears 
to  her  eyes,  it  was  so  confiding,  and  she  was  still 
so  shaken  by  the  scene  she  had  just  witnessed.  In 
a  great  throb  of  tenderness  for  the  helpless  little 
body  given  over  to  her  care,  she  drew  him  closer, 
with  a  hasty  kiss  on  the  top  of  his  curly  head. 

"  Dea'st  Fwend,"  he  said,  smiling  up  at  her  as 
if  he  understood  the  reason  of  her  sudden  caress. 
Then  he  cuddled  his  head  against  her  shoulder  in 
a  satisfied  way,  saying,  "  Tell  me  again  what  the 
wed  and  gween  bird  says." 

As  they  drove  in  at  the  entrance  gate  to  The 
Locusts,  Lloyd  recalled  an  experience  she  had  not 
thought  of  in  years;  an  autumn  day,  when  only  a 
baby  herself,  not  yet  six,  she  had  been  left  to  make 
her  way  alone  up  this  same  avenue.  She  had  never 
spent  a  night  away  from  her  mother,  and  she  was 


"SHADOWS   OF   THE    WORLD  APPEAR"-    179 

to  stay  a  week  alone  with  her  grandfather,  who  did 
not  know  how  to  sing  her  to  sleep  and  kiss  her  eye- 
lids down  so  she  wouldn't  be  afraid  of  the  black 
shadows  in  the  corners.  Here  by  this  very  gate 
she  had  stood,  assailed  by  such  a  great  ache  of 
loneliness  and  homesickness  that  she  was  sure  she 
would  die  if  she  had  to  endure  it  another  moment. 
And  there  was  the  spot  where,  rustling  around  in 
the  dead  leaves,  Fritz  had  found  the  little  gray 
glove  her  mother  had  dropped  when  she  stooped 
to  kiss  her  good-bye. 

As  she  remembered  how  she  had  carried  that 
glove,  all  week,  rolled  up  in  a  little  wad  in  her 
pocket,  to  help  her  to  be  good  and  not  to  cry,  she 
resolved  that  Wardo  should  not  have  the  same  ex- 
perience if  any  effort  of  hers  could  prevent  it.  She 
would  devote  her  time  to  him  night  and  day  and 
keep  him  so  happily  employed,  there  would  be  no 
time  for  "  the  sorry  feelin's  "  that  had  been  her 
childish  undoing.  There  was  no  care  or  accustomed 
tenderness  he  should  miss. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  ohe  reached  home,  and 
so  afraid  was  she  that  the  nightfall  itself  would 
make  Wardo  homesick,  that  she  began  to  provide 
for  his  entertainment  even  before  she  made  any 
explanation  to  her  astonished  family. 


180    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Oh,  Papa  Jack,"  she  called.  "  Please  find  the 
parrot  right  away  for  Wardo  to  see,  then  I'll 
explain  everything." 

For  once  the  red  and  green  bird  was  on  its  good 
behaviour,  and  began  to  show  off  as  soon  as  it  was 
brought  to  the  front.  While  Wardo  watched  it, 
wide-eyed  and  absorbed,  Lloyd  gave  an  excited 
and  tearful  account  of  her  visit  to  Ida.  The  old 
Colonel  said  something  about  the  fever  and  '.he 
danger  of  infection,  but  when  she  had  finished  her 
story  nobody  else  had  the  heart  to  show  displeas- 
ure at  what  she  had  done. 

"  And  I  won't  let  him  be  a  trouble  to  anybody !  " 
she  added.  "  I'll  take  care  of  him  every  bit  my- 
self, and  keep  him  out  of  the  way." 

As  Mrs.  Sherman  watched  her  leading  the  child 
up-stairs,  talking  to  him  at  every  step  to  keep  his 
thoughts  diverted  from  home,  and  then  heard  her 
giving  orders  to  Walker  about  her  old  high  chair 
and  little  white  crib  to  be  brought  down  from  the 
attic,  she  turned  to  Mr.  Sherman  with  a  sigh  of 
relief. 

"  She's  found  her  own  antidote  for  the  Spanish 
lessons,  Jack.  We  won't  have  to  go  away  to  the 
springs  or  the  mountains  now,  I'm  sure." 


"  FOR    ONCE    THE    RED    AND    GREEN    BIRD    WAS    ON    ITS    GOOD 

BEHAVIOUR." 


CHAPTER    IX 

MORE   SHADOWS 

From  that  first  night,  Wardo  had  the  entire 
household  at  his  feet.  Lloyd  scarcely  touched  her 
own  dinner  in  her  anxiety  to  anticipate  his  wants. 
He  was  very  near  tears  sometimes,  when  his  furtive 
glances  around  the  table  showed  only  strange  faces, 
but  he  was  "  a  game  little  chap  "  as  the  Colonel 
said,  and  "  a  credit  to  whoever  had  taught  him  his 
manners." 

He  could  not  be  induced  to  speak  save  in  whis- 
pers, when  Lloyd  put  a  protecting  arm  around  the 
high  chair  where  he  sat,  and  with  an  indulgent 
3mile  leaned  over  with  her  ear  almost  touching  his 
lips.  Before  the  dinner  was  over  he  fell  asleep, 
worn  out  by  the  unusual  excitement  of  the  day,  his 
curly  head  laid  confidingly  on  "  Dea'st  Fwend's  " 
shoulder. 

"  Sh ! "  whispered  Lloyd  warningly  to  the  col- 
oured man  who  came  in  to  change  the  plates  for 

x8i 


182    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

dessert.  "  Wait  a  minute."  Carry  him  up-stairs 
first,  please,  Papa  Jack.  If  I  can  get  him  undressed 
without  waking  him  he'll  miss  one  homesick  crying 
spell  anyhow." 

Leland  Harcourt  came  just  as  she  had  accom- 
plished the  task,  and  Betty  tiptoed  into  the  room 
to  tell  her.  Lloyd  looked  down  at  the  little  white- 
gowned  figure  in  the  crib,  and  shook  her  head  as  it 
stirred  restlessly.  "  I'll  stay  with  him,"  offered 
Betty. 

"  No,  I  must  wait  till  I'm  suah  he's  sound  asleep. 
You  explain  to  Mistah  Harcourt,  please,  and  I'll 
come  down  aftah  awhile.  Oh,  Betty!  Isn't  he  a 
darling?  It's  going  to  be  moah  fun  taking  care  of 
him  than  dressing  dolls  used  to  be !  " 

It  wasn't  so  much  fun  next  morning,  however, 
when  he  cried  to  be  taken  to  his  mother.  Every 
sob  that  shook  the  little  shoulders  tore  Lloyd's  heart 
also,  for  remembering  the  violence  of  her  own 
childish  grieving,  she  put  herself  into  Wardo's  place 
so  completely  that  she  cried  too.  Then  everybody 
in  the  house  rose  to  the  occasion.  Papa  Jack 
brought  out  Tarbaby,  and  walked  him  up  and 
down  the  avenue  as  long  as  Wardo  was  pleased  to 
sit  in  the  saddle.  Mrs.  Sherman  took  him  to  the 
stsables  to  see  half  a  dozen  gray  kittens  that  had 


MORE  SHADOWS  183 

made  their  home  in  the  hay,  and  Walker  carried 
him  pick-a-back  to  look  at  the  calves. 

After  that  the  old  Colonel  unsheathed  his  sword 
and  got  out  his  spurs,  and  started  to  tell  the  blood- 
iest battle  tales  he  knew,  and  when  they  did  not 
meet  with  the  approval  he  expected,  he  actually  in- 
vented a  game  of  bear,  which  they  played  in  his  den. 
They  played  it  till  Wardo  began  shrieking  with 
thrills  of  real  fear  at  the  fearsome  growling  and 
the  big  fur  gloves  thrust  at  him  from  behind  the 
leather  couch.  He  grew  so  nervous  and  excited 
that  the  Colonel  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  calm 
the  whirlwind  he  had  unintentionally  stirred  up. 

It  was  Betty  who  came  to  the  rescue.  She  led 
him  down  to  the  orchard,  and  taking  him  on  her 
lap  in  the  old  swing,  swung  him  so  high  up  into  the 
top  of  the  apple-tree  that  they  could  look  over  and 
see  the  eggs  in  a  blue-bird's  nest.  Then  little  by 
little  she  stopped  their  swinging,  till  presently  they 
were  swaying  very  gently  back  and  forth  near  the 
ground,  and  she  had  charmed  him  into  quietness 
with  one  of  the  old  tales  that  she  used  to  tell  Davy, 
about  the  elves  who  live  in  the  buttercups  and  ride 
far  miles  on  the  bumblebees. 

Glancing  up  towards  the  house,  she  saw  Leland 
Harcourt  mounting  the  steps.    It  was  the  hour  for 


1 84    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Lloyd's  lesson.  So  although  she  had  intended  to 
spend  the  morning  outlining  a  magazine  story  which 
she  had  in  mind,  she  took  a  fresh  grip  on  the  swing 
rope,  and  began  another  tale. 

That  was  the  way  Wardo's  entertainment  went 
on  for  the  next  few  days.  He  was  not  allowed  an 
idle  moment  in  which  to  think  of  going  home.  So 
what  with  all  these  amusements  and  the  novelty  of 
constant  attention  from  his  elders,  it  was  not  long 
before  he  developed  into  a  veritable  little  tyrant, 
demanding  attention  every  moment  of  his  waking 
hours.  But  when  her  unremitting  service  grew  irk- 
some Lloyd  had  only  to  think  of  Ida,  tossing  help- 
less and  delirious  at  the  mercy  of  the  wasting  fever. 
Her  daily  visits  to  the  cottage  kept  her  in  full  reali- 
zation of  the  seriousness  of  the  case,  and  a  deeper 
feeling  of  tenderness  swept  over  her  whenever  she 
came  back  to  Wardo  after  one  of  these  visits,  for 
each  time  she  knew  that  the  dreaded  crisis  was 
nearer,  and  she  could  not  bear  to  think  of  his  being 
left  motherless. 

"It  will  just  kill  him!"  she  thought  with  tears 
in  her  eyes,  as  she  watched  the  pitiful  quivering  of 
his  mouth  and  the  manly  attempt  to  choke  back  his 
sobs,  whenever  Ida's  name  was  mentioned.  So  to 
make  sure  that  he  was  happily  employed  she  took 


MORE   SHADOWS  185 

him  wherever  she  went,  except  on  that  one  short 
drive  which  she  made  daily  to  Rollington.  When 
she  and  Betty  spent  the  day  at  The  Beeches  or  the 
Cabin,  he  was  one  of  the  party.  When  Miss  Marks 
had  another  expedition  to  finish  her  Garden  Fancies, 
he  was  included  in  the  group,  and  a  charming  pic- 
ture he  made,  as  with  a  butterfly  net  in  his  hand,  he 
stooped  to  point  to  the  figures  on  the  old  sun-dial, 
that  marked  the  flight  of  the  happy  summer. 

It  was  from  this  expedition  that  they  drove  back 
one  evening  in  the  early  August  twilight.  He  had 
been  asleep  most  of  the  way  home,  but  roused  up 
as  the  carriage  turned  in  at  the  gate.  Betty,  leaning 
forward  in  her  seat,  drew  a  long  breath. 

"  Oh,  smell  the  lilies !  "  she  exclaimed,  looking 
across  the  lawn  to  where  they  stood,  like  tall  white 
ghosts  in  the  twilight.  "  How  heavenly  sweet ! 
Such  a  delicious  ending  to  such  a  nice  day.  Do 
you  know,  Lloyd,  I've  been  feeling  all  the  way  home 
as  if  I  were  going  to  hear  from  my  book  to-night. 
The  publishers  have  had  plenty  of  time  to  read  it 
since  I  sent  it.  I  feel  it  in  my  bones  that  there'll  be 
a  letter  waiting  for  me." 

"  How  do  you  feel  rings  wif  your  bones,  Betty?  ** 
asked  Wardo,  sleepily  raising  his  curly  head  from 
Lloyd's  shoulder. 


1 86    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Oh,  I  couldn't  make  you  understand,"  she  an- 
swered. "  It's  just  a  sort  of  happy  flutter  all 
through  you  that  tells  you  something  nice  is  going 
to  happen." 

"What's  flutter?"  asked  the  tireless  questioner, 
but  Betty  paid  no  heed.  The  carriage  had  reached 
the  steps,  and  with  a  spring  she  was  out,  calling 
eagerly  as  she  stepped  into  the  broad  path  of  light 
streaming  across  the  porch  from  the  hall  door, 
"  Any  mail  for  me,  godmother?  " 

"  Nothing  but  a  package,"  answered  Mrs.  Sher- 
man, coming  out  to  meet  them.  "  And  it  will  keep. 
Better  run  on  in  and  eat  your  dinner  first.  Cindy 
has  been  keeping  it  hot  for  you  all." 

But  Betty  could  not  wait.  As  she  darted  into 
the  hall  Mrs.  Sherman  turned  to  Lloyd,  who  was 
half  dragging,  half  lifting  the  sleepy  Wardo  up  the 
steps. 

"  Poor  little  girl,"  she  said  in  a  low  tone.  "  I 
wanted  to  put  off  her  disappointment  as  long  as 
possible,  and  not  spoil  her  happy  day  with  such  an 
ending.  Her  manuscript  has  come  back  from  the 
publishers." 

"  Oh,  mothah ! "  exclaimed  Lloyd  in  distress. 
"  You  don't  mean  that  they've  refused  it !  They 
suahly  couldn't   have   done   that!     Maybe   they've 


MORE   SHADOWS  187 

just  sent  it  back  for  her  to  make  some  changes 
in  it." 

Betty's  voice  in  the  door  stopped  her.  As  long 
as  she  lived,  Lloyd  never  again  smelled  the  odour 
of  August  lilies  when  they  were  heavy  with  dew, 
that  she  did  not  see  the  tragic  misery  of  Betty's 
white  face  as  it  appeared  that  moment  in  the  light 
of  the  hall  lamp. 

"  They've  sent  it  back,  godmother,"  she  said  in 
a  low  even  tone.  "  It  wasn't  good  enough.  It's 
all  a  miserable  mistake  to  think  that  I  can  write, 
for  I  put  the  very  best  of  myself  into  this  and  it 
is  a  failure." 

"  No !  No !  "  began  Lloyd,  but  Betty  would  not 
wait  for  any  attempted  comfort.  "  I  don't  want  any 
dinner,"  she  said,  then  with  her  mouth  twitching 
piteously  as  she  fought  back  the  tears,  she  ran  up- 
stairs, and  they  heard  the  door  close  and  the  key 
turn  in  the  lock. 

Nobody  ever  knew  what  went  on  behind  that 
locked  door,  for  Betty  was  as  quiet  in  her  griefs 
as  she  was  in  her  joy  and  made  no  audible  moan. 
She  threw  herself  across  the  foot  of  the  bed  and  lay 
there  staring  out  of  the  window  in  the  hopelessness 
of  utter  defeat.  The  katydids  shrilling  in  the  Lo- 
custs seemed  to  fill  the  night  with  an  unbearable 


1 88    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

discord.  She  put  her  hands  over  her  ears  to  shut 
out  the  hateful  sound.  It  seemed  to  her  that  noth- 
ing mattered  any  more.  As  she  slowly  recalled  all 
her  months  of  painstaking  work,  the  keen  pleasure 
that  each  hour  of  it  had  afforded  her  was  turned 
into  bitterness  by  the  thought  that  it  had  proved 
a  failure. 

Only  once  before  had  she  felt  such  hopelessness. 
That  was  at  the  first  house-party,  when  she  thought 
she  was  doomed  to  be  blind.  They  had  brought  her 
the  newspaper  containing  her  first  published  poem. 
It  was  called  "  Night,"  and  as  they  guided  her  fin- 
ger over  the  page  that  it  might  rest  proudly  on  the 
place  where  her  name  was  printed,  she  had  faltered, 
"  It's  going  to  be  such  a  long  night,  and  there  are 
no  stars  in  this  one !  " 

Now  the  outlook  seemed  even  more  hopeless, 
bereft  of  the  star  of  her  great  hope.  The  ambition 
to  be  an  author  had  been  a  part  of  her  so  long,  that 
it  seemed  even  more  indispensable  than  her  eye- 
sight. 

The  slow  hot  tears  began  to  drop  down  on  her 
pillow  after  awhile,  tears  of  mortification  as  well  as 
disappointment.  The  girls  would  have  to  know, 
She  had  been  foolish  to  make  such  a  parade  of  her 
attempt.     She  should  have  waited.     But  then  she 


MORE   SHADOWS  189 

had  been  so  sure  that  her  story  was  a  good  one. 
That  was  the  hardest  part  to  bear,  that  she  had  been 
so  mistaken.  It  would  have  been  easier,  she  thought 
bitterly,  if  her  rebuffs  had  come  earlier ;  if  some  of 
her  first  contributions  had  been  returned.  But  the 
way  had  been  made  so  easy  for  her.  Her  very 
first  poems  had  been  accepted,  printed,  praised. 
Everybody  had  predicted  success,  everybody  ex- 
pected great  things  of  her,  even  old  Bishop  Chart- 
ley.  The  girls  at  school  had  openly  proclaimed  her 
as  a  genius,  the  teachers  had  praised  every  effort 
and  urged  her  to  greater,  the  whole  Valley  looked 
upon  her  as  one  set  apart  by  a  special  gift. 

Was  it  any  wonder,  she  asked  herself,  that  she 
had  come  to  believe  in  her  own  ability.  It  was  as 
if  she  had  been  urged  down  a  flowery  path  by  each 
one  she  met,  to  find  that  every  guide  was  mistaken, 
and  that  the  way  they  pointed  out  ended  in  a  dismal 
slough  of  disappointment. 

Presently  she  heard  Wardo's  little  feet  on  the 
stairs,  pattering  up  to  bed,  and  his  voice  raised  in 
his  ceaseless  questioning;  then  a  little  later  Lloyd's 
voice  singing  him  to  sleep.  After  that  there  was  the 
sound  below  of  people  coming  and  going,  Leland 
Harcourt's  laugh  and  the  scrape  of  wheels  on  the 
gravelled  drive. 


190    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDINS 

She  felt  a  dull  throb  of  gratitude  that  the  family- 
left  her  alone. 

A  long  time  after  she  heard  the  closing  and  lock- 
ing of  doors,  and  then  steps  again  on  the  stairs. 
Some  one  stopped  outside  her  door. 

"  Good-night,  Betty  deah." 

"  Good-night,"  she  answered  in  a  voice  which 
she  tried  to  keep  steady,  but  there  was  a  sob  in  it, 
and  divining  that  the  kindest  thing  would  be  not 
to  notice  it,  Lloyd  choked  back  the  word  of  sympa- 
thy she  longed  to  speak,  and  went  on  to  her  room. 

Nearly  an  hour  after  Betty  got  up,  and  lighting 
her  lamp,  sat  down  at  the  desk  where  the  rejected 
manuscript  lay.  Turning  it  over  listlessly,  she  read 
a  paragraph  here  and  there,  trying  to  see  it  through 
the  eyes  of  the  publisher  who  had  returned  it.  If 
he  had  sent  merely  a  printed  notice  of  refusal,  such 
as  she  had  been  told  was  customary,  stating  imper- 
sonally that  it  was  returned  with  regret  because 
unavailable,  she  would  have  started  it  off  again  at 
daybreak  to  another  place,  knowing  that  what  does 
not  fill  the  special  need  of  one  firm  may  be  seized 
with  alacrity  by  another.  But  this  man  had  taken 
the  trouble  to  explain  why  it  was  unavailable. 

Now,  in  the  light  of  that  explanation,  she  won- 
dered  with   burning  cheeks   how   she  could   have 


MORE   SHADOWS  1 9 1 

thought  for  one  instant  that  it  was  good.  She  could 
see,  herself,  that  it  was  crude  and  childish  and  in- 
effectual; not  the  style  in  which  it  was  written. 
Betty  was  sure  of  her  ability  there.  She  was  as 
conscious  that  her  diction  and  composition  meas- 
ured up  to  the  best  standards,  as  an  athlete  is  con- 
scious of  his  strength.  It  was  her  view-point  of 
life  that  had  amused  the  great  publisher.  He  hadn't 
ridiculed  it  in  words,  but  she  felt  his  covert  smile 
at  her  schoolgirl  attempt  to  deal  with  the  world's 
big  problems,  and  the  knowledge  that  he  had  been 
amused  cut  her  like  a  knife. 

Pushing  the  package  aside,  she  took  out  the  last 
volume  of  her  diary,  and  from  force  of  habit  made 
an  entry,  the  record  of  the  return  of  her  manuscript. 
"  It  has  come  back  to  me,  the  little  bark  that  the 
girls  launched  so  gaily,  with  ceremony  and  good 
wishes.  It  has  come  back  a  shipwreck!  It  was 
almost  easier  to  face  blindness  than  it  is  to  face  this 
failure.  How  can  I  give  up  this  hope  that  has 
grown  with  my  growth  till  it  means  more  than 
everything  else  in  the  world  to  me  ?  How  can  I  live 
all  the  rest  of  my  life  without  it?  Somehow  for 
years  I  have  felt  that  the  Lord  wanted  me  to  write. 
The  feeling  was  like  the  King's  call  to  Edryn,  and 
I  have  gone  on  answering  it  as  he  did : 


192    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  «  Oh  list ! 
Thou  heart  and  hand  of  mine,  keep  tryst, 
Keep  tryst  or  die ! ' 

"  Of  course  it  would  be  folly  for  me  to  go  on  now, 
when  it  has  been  proved  beyond  all  doubt  that  I  am 
not  able  to  keep  the  great  tryst  worthily,  and  yet  — 
life  seems  so  empty  with  this  one  high  hope  and 
purpose  taken  out  of  it,  that  I  am  not  brave  enough 
to  face  it  cheerfully." 

It  had  long  been  a  habit  of  Betty's,  formed  in 
the  early  days  at  the  Cuckoo's  Nest,  to  comfort  her- 
self when  things  went  wrong  by  imagining  how 
much  worse  they  might  have  been.  Now  there  was 
a  drop  of  consolation  in  the  fact  that  she  had  never 
displayed  her  pride  in  her  book  to  any  but  the 
girls.  It  had  been  a  temptation  to  show  it  to  her 
godmother  and  Papa  Jack  and  the  Colonel,  espe- 
cially after  the  girls  had  applauded  it  so  enthusi- 
astically ;  but  the  wish  for  them  to  see  it  at  its  best 
had  made  her  withhold  it  in  its  manuscript  form. 
The  climax  of  her  triumph  was  to  be  when  she 
placed  in  their  hands  a  real,  full-fledged  book. 
Their  criticism  might  have  spared  her  the  humilia- 
tion of  a  rejected  manuscript,  but  she  acknowledged 
to  herself  that  it  was  easier  to  have  the  sentence 


MORE  SHADOWS  *93 

passed  on  it  by  a  stranger  than  by  the  three  whose 
opinion  she  valued  most. 

Tiptoeing  noiselessly  around  the  room  in  order 
not  to  disturb  any  one  at  that  late  hour,  she  un- 
dressed slowly,  and  creeping  into  bed  sobbed  herself 
to  sleep.  Betty  had  always  been  a  sensible  little 
soul,  taking  her  small  troubles  like  a  philosopher, 
and  next  morning,  when  she  was  awakened  by  the 
first  bird-calls  and  lay  watching  the  light  creep  up 
the  wall,  the  old  childish  habit  of  thought  asserted 
itself,  bringing  an  unexpected  balm  to  her  sore 
heart.  She  had  always  loved  allegories.  At  the 
Cuckoo's  Nest  she  had  helped  herself  over  all  the 
rough  places  in  her  road  by  imagining  that  she 
was  Christian  in  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  that  no 
matter  how  hard  a  time  she  was  having  then,  the 
House  Beautiful  and  the  Delectable  Mountains  and 
the  City  of  the  Shining  Ones  lay  just  ahead. 

Now  in  her  greater  trouble  it  was  the  allegory 
of  Edryn  that  brought  comfort,  because  he,  too,  had 
heard  the  King's  call  and  striven  to  keep  tryst,  and 
she  remembered  that  when  he  knelt  to  receive  his 
knighthood,  something  else  besides  pearls  and  dia- 
monds flashed  on  his  vestment  above  his  heart,  to 
form  the  letters  "  semper  fidelis." 

"  An  amethyst  glowed  on  his  breast  in  purple 


194    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

splendour  to  mark  his  patient  meeting  with  De- 
feat!" 

"  Maybe  without  that  amethyst  he  couldn't  have 
spelled  all  the  motto  perfectly,"  thought  Betty.  She 
sat  up  in  bed,  her  face  alight  with  the  inspiration 
of  the  thought.  She  had  met  defeat  and  she  had 
fallen  into  a  grievous  Dungeon  of  Disappointment, 
but  she  needn't  stay  in  it.  She  sprang  out  of  bed 
echoing  Edryn's  words :  "  Full  well  I  know  that 
Heaven  always  finds  a  way  to  help  the  man  who 
helps  himself,  and  even  dungeon  walls  must  harbour 
help  for  him  who  boldly  grasps  the  first  thing  that 
he  sees  and  makes  it  serve  him !  " 

It  was  a  brave  way  to  begin  the  day,  and  it  car- 
ried her  over  the  first  part  of  it  so  cheerfully  that 
Mrs.  Sherman  began  to  think  that  she  had  over- 
estimated Betty's  disappointment.  It  surely  could 
not  have  been  as  overwhelming  as  she  imagined. 
She  did  not  know  how  many  times  that  day  Betty's 
courage  failed  her.  Edryn's  high-sounding  words 
seemed  like  a  hollow  mockery  and  she  brooded  over 
the  failure  till  she  began  to  grow  morbid  and  ultra- 
sensitive. 

Late  that  afternoon  Mrs.  Sherman  met  her  in  the 
back  hall  with  the  manuscript  in  her  hands.  She 
was  on  her  way  to  put  it  in  the  kitchen   stove. 


MORE   SHADOWS  195 

Promptly  rescuing  it,  Mrs.  Sherman  finally  obtained 
her  reluctant  consent  to  let  her  read  it. 

"  It  is  your  right,"  said  Betty  bitterly,  "  no  mat- 
ter how  much  it  humiliates  me.  You  have  done 
everything  for  me,  lavished  everything  on  me  as  if 
I  were  really  your  daughter,  and  I  have  disappointed 
you  at  every  turn.  I  couldn't  be  the  brilliant  social 
success  you  hoped  for,  it  was  useless  to  try.  And 
I  couldn't  be  the  success  in  literature  you  had  a 
right  to  expect,  though  I  did  try  that  with  all  my 
soul,  mind  and  strength.  I've  been  thinking  about 
it  all  day,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  at  last,  that  I'd 
burn  up  that  miserable  story  that  I  wasted  so  many 
months  on,  and  then  I'd  go  to  you  and  tell  you  that 
under  the  circumstances  it  would  be  better  for  me 
to  go  away,  and  not  be  an  expense  to  you  any 
longer.  As  long  as  there  was  a  prospect  of  my 
amounting  to  something  some  day  that  would  make 
you  proud  of  me,  that  would  repay  you  in  part  for 
all  you've  done,  I  didn't  mind  deepening  my  obli- 
gation to  you,  but  now  —  " 

She  turned  to  the  window  to  hide  her  face,  but 
the  next  instant  she  found  herself  sitting  on  the  top 
stair  with  her  head  on  her  godmother's  shoulder, 
listening  to  such  loving  remonstrances  that  they 
should  have  driven  away  the  last  vestige  of  her 


196    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

bitter  self-condemnation.  It  did  help  wonderfully 
to  hear  that  her  godmother  and  Papa  Jack  were 
not  disappointed  in  her  though  grieved  for  her  dis- 
appointment; that  they  loved  her  for  her  own  dear 
little  self  alone,  and  not  for  the  things  they  hoped 
she  would  achieve,  and  that  they  couldn't  let  her 
go  away,  for  nobody  could  ever  fill  the  place  of 
their  dear  little  daughter  Betty. 

She  wiped  her  eyes  after  awhile  and  smiled  like 
an  April  day,  but  she  still  persisted  that  she  must 
go  away  somewhere  and  teach  if  only  to  prove  that 
she  was  good  for  something. 

Much  troubled  by  her  evident  distress,  Mrs.  Sher- 
man finally  went  to  talk  the  matter  over  with  the 
old  Colonel.  Mr.  Sherman  was  away  from  home. 
Several  days  after  she  called  Betty  into  her  room. 

"  Papa  has  read  your  manuscript,"  she  said,  "  and 
he  thinks  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  let  you  have 
your  own  way,  and  go  off  somewhere  for  awhile. 
He  says  that  in  his  opinion  your  writing  shows 
unusual  promise,  and  that  its  only  lack  is  the  lack 
of  nearly  all  young  writers,  your  ignorance  of  life. 
You  must  know  more  of  the  world  before  you  can 
have  a  message  for  it  that  it  will  stop  to  listen  to. 
You  must  live  and  grow  and  gain  experience,  and 
he  thinks  the  best  way  for  you  to  do  all  that,  is  to 


MORE   SHADOWS 


197 


depend  on  your  own  resources  for  awhile,  and  that 
the  kindest  thing  we  can  do  is  to  open  the  cage 
and  give  the  little  bird  a  chance  to  try  its  own 
wings.  It  will  never  learn  to  fly  as  long  as  we 
keep  it  hedged  about  so  carefully. 

"  He  finally  convinced  me  by  quoting  that  legend 
of  '  Camelback  Mountain  '  to  me.  He  says  you 
are  like  Shapur  now,  a  vendor  of  salt  who  as  yet 
can  only  follow  in  the  train  of  others  —  write  what 
has  already  been  written.  You  haven't  the  wares 
with  which  to  gain  a  royal  entrance  to  the  City  of 
your  Desire.  You  need  some  desert  of  waiting  in 
which  to  learn  the  secret  of  Omar's  alchemy." 

"  I  know,"  said  Betty.  "  I  know  now  what  my 
writing  lacks  —  the  attar  that  gained  him  his  royal 
entrance."  She  quoted  softly,  "  '  And  no  man  fills 
his  crystal  vase  with  it  until  he  has  first  been 
pricked  by  the  world's  disappointments  and  bowed 
by  its  tasks.'  " 

"  Oh,  Betty,  my  dear  little  girl,"  said  Mrs.  Sher- 
man taking  the  earnest  face  between  her  hands  and 
looking  down  fondly  into  the  trusting  brown  eyes 
raised  to  hers.  "  I  suppose  it's  true,  but  I  can't 
help  wanting  to  save  you  from  the  pricks  and  the 
burdens.  Still  I  won't  stand  in  your  way.  Go 
ahead,   little    Shapur,   and   may   the   golden  gates 


LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

swing  wide  for  you,  for  I  know  you'll  force  them 
open  some  day,  with  the  filling  of  your  crystal  vase." 
A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  Betty  was  hurrying 
down  the  road  in  happy  haste,  a  telegram  in  her 
hand  for  Warwick  Hall.  It  was  to  Madam  Chart- 
ley  asking  if  she  knew  of  any  vacant  position  for 
teachers,  in  any  of  the  schools  of  her  acquaintance. 


CHAPTER   X 

BY   THE   SILVER   YARD  -  STICK 

With  her  days  shadowed  by  anxiety  over  Ida's 
illness,  the  care  and  responsibility  of  Wardo  and 
her  sympathy  for  Betty's  disappointment,  Lloyd  still 
found  one  bright  spot,  untouched  by  other  people's 
troubles.  If,  like  the  old  sun-dial  at  Warwick  Hall, 
she  had  taken  for  her  motto :  "  I  only  mark  the 
hours  that  shine,"  those  hours  when  Leland  Har- 
court  came  to  teach  her  Spanish  were  the  ones  that 
would  have  been  numbered. 

If  she  had  felt  that  he  regarded  it  as  a  bore,  or 
that  it  cost  him  the  slightest  effort,  she  would  have 
dropped  the  study  immediately;  but  when  he  made 
it  plain  that  it  was  the  chief  interest  of  his  days, 
and  the  one  thing  that  made  his  summer  in  the 
Valley  endurable,  she  could  not  help  being  flattered 
by  his  assertions,  and  exerted  herself  all  the  more 
to  make  the  hour  a  pleasant  one. 

It  was  an  agreeable  sensation  to  know  that  she 
could  interest  a  man  who  had  known  so  many  in- 

IfiO 


200    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

terests ;  that  it  was  she  who  held  him  in  Lloyds- 
boro;  that  every  turn  of  her  head,  every  inflection 
of  her  voice,  every  phase  of  her  varying  moods  had 
a  charm  for  him.  It  made  her  tingle  with  satis- 
faction when  she  realized  that  she  had  justified 
Gay's  confidence  in  her  power,  but  sometimes  after 
he  had  gone  she  felt  that  she  was  not  exerting  it 
to  the  extent  she  had  promised.  She  wasn't  "  key- 
ing him  up  to  any  higher  pitch."  She  wasn't  inspir- 
ing him  with  the  ambition  which  his  family  seemed 
to  think  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  make  him 
capable  of  any  achievement.  The  idea  of  her  influ- 
encing him  did  not  seem  as  preposterous  and  ridic- 
ulous as  it  had  the  first  few  weeks  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, but  somehow  it  did  not  seem  so<  necessary. 
Sometimes  she  wondered  if  the  "  sweet  doing  noth- 
ing "  that  Gay  said  was  in  his  blood  had  not  af- 
fected her  also.  Maybe  that  was  why  she  liked  his 
very  indolence,  and  forgave  in  him  what  she  would 
have  condemned  in  any  other  chronic  idler.  Maybe 
he  was  influencing  her. 

"But  he  sha'n't!"  she  declared  to  herself  when 
the  thought  first  startled  her,  and  to  prove  that  he 
hadn't  she  seized  the  first  opportunity  which  came 
in  her  way  to  take  him  to  task.  His  signet  ring 
bore  the  same  crest  that  was  on  the  silver  ladle, 


BY   THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  20 1 

and  he  used  it  one  morning  to  seal  a  note  for  her. 
With  a  significant  glance  in  its  direction  she  asked 
saucily,  "  Sefior  Tarrypin,  when  are  you  going  to 
put  your  family  motto  into  actual  use?  When  are 
you  going  to  begin  striving  till  you  ovahcome  — 
till  you  do  something  really  worth  while  in  the 
world?" 

With  the  question  came  the  quick  iemembrance 
of  a  winter  day  by  the  churchyard  stile,  and  Mal- 
colm's boyish  voice  protesting  earnestly  —  "  I'll  be 
anything  you  want  me  to  be,  Lloyd."  And  then 
like  a  flash  came  that  other  scene  and  Phil's  plead- 
ing voice,  "  I  say  it  in  all  humility,  Lloyd,  this  little 
bit  of  turquoise  kept  me  '  true  blue.'  " 

If  she  had  expected  any  such  earnestness  in  Le- 
land's  reply  she  was  soon  disillusioned,  for  with 
an  amused  side-glance  at  her,  as  if  he  found  this 
serious  mood  the  most  diverting  of  all,  he  said  in- 
differently : 

"  Oh  —  manana" 

"  To-morrow!"  she  translated  quickly.  "But 
to-morrow  never  comes." 

"  Then  neither  need  the  effort." 

"  But  without  the  effort  —  the  striving,"  she 
persisted,  looking  down  at  the  imprint  of  the  tiny 
dagger  on  the  seal,  "  there  never  will  be  any  crown." 


2G2    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  carelessly.  "  What's 
the  odds,  when  one  doesn't  care  for  a  crown?  " 

"  You're  just  plain  lazy ! "  she  cried,  provoked 
that  her  effort  to  inspire  him  had  met  with  such  a 
reception. 

He  smiled  as  if  she  had  paid  him  the  greatest 
of  compliments,  then  sat  up  with  an  air  of  interest. 

"  This  is  a  topic  we've  never  struck  before," 
he  said  lightly.  "  It's  like  coming  across  an  inviting 
bypath  we've  never  travelled  over.  Now  suppose 
you  tell  me  just  what  is  your  ideal  way  for  a  man 
to  spend  his  life  in  order  to  get  the  most  out  of  it." 

Lloyd  stole  a  quick  glance  at  him  to  see  if  he 
were  in  earnest.  The  light  tone  seemed  almost 
mocking,  but  the  half-closed  eyes  gazing  out  across 
the  lawn  were  serious  enough,  and  she  studied  her 
reply  a  moment,  feeling  that  maybe  her  opportunity 
had  come  at  last. 

"  I  think,"  she  began  timidly,  "  that  the  man  who 
gets  the  most  out  of  life  is  the  one  who  makes  most 
of  himself  —  who  starts  out  as  they  did  in  the  old 
days  to  win  his  spurs  and  his  accolade.  Maybe 
you  know  the  story  of  Edryn,  the  one  that  gave 
Warwick  Hall  its  motto." 

He  nodded,  with  that  slightly  amused  smile  which 
always  disconcerted  her.     "  Yes,  I  know.     That's 


t     BY   THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  203 

Gay's  pet  war-cry  —  '  Keep  tryst.'  But  go  on,  I'd 
like  to  hear  your  version  of  it." 

In  the  face  of  such  an  invitation  she  found  it 
very  hard  to  proceed,  but  after  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion she  said  almost  defiantly : 

"  Oh,  I  know  you'll  considah  it  a  bit  of  school- 
girl sentiment  to  look  at  life  in  such  a  figurative 
way,  but  I  think  it's  beautiful : 

" '  To  duty  and  to  sorrow' "  she  quoted  softly, 
" '  to  disappointment  and  defeat  thou  mayst  be 
called.  No  mutter  what  the  tryst  there  is  but  one 
reply  if  thou  wouldst  win  thy  knighthood! ' " 

"  But  suppose  one  never  hears  any  call,"  he  asked 
teasingly.  "  Never  feels  the  spirit  move  him  to 
make  any  particular  exertion." 

"  Then  it's  yoah  own  fault !  "  cried  Lloyd.  "  It's 
just  as  it  says  in  the  legend.  '  Only  those  will  hear 
who  wake  at  dawn  to  listen  in  high  places,  and  only 
those  will  heed  who  keep  the  compass  needle  of 
their  soul  true  to  the  North  star  of  a  great  ambi- 
tion!'" 

"  Pretty  strenuous  work,  isn't  that,  for  an  August 
day?  "  he  answered.  "  And  that's  all  very  well  for 
poets  and  priests  and  young  idealists  to  dream  of, 
but  when  all's  said  and  done,  what's  the  good? 
What's  the  use?" 


204    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Clasping  his  hands  behind  his  head  he  leaned  back 
in  his  chair  and  began  reciting  in  a  dreamy  way, 
as  if  he  were  chanting  the  rhythmical  lines,  a  poem 
called  "  Drifting."  It  was  like  an  incantation,  and 
Lloyd  sat  listening  as  if  he  were  weaving  some 
spell  around  her : 

"  «  My  soul  to-day 

Is  far  away 
Sailing  the  Vesuvian  Bay. 

My  winged  boat, 

A  bird  afloat, 
Swims  round  the  purple  peaks  remote. 


«  « I  heed  not  if 

My  rippling  skiff 
Float  swift  or  slow  from  cliff  to  cliff; 

With  dreamful  eyes 

My  spirit  lies, 
Under  the  walls  of  Paradise.* " 


As  he  went  musically  on,  verse  after  verse,  Lloyd 
sat  listening,  wholly  under  the  spell  of  his  voice, 
yet  with  a  baffled  impotent  sense  of  being  carried 
along  by  a  current  in  exactly  the  opposite  direction 
from  the  one  in  which  she  had  started  to  go. 

"  •  No  more,  no  more 
The  worldly  shore 
Upbraids  me  with  its  wild  uproar  —  *  * 


BY   THE  SILVER    YARD -STICK  205 

It  was  a  Lotus  land  of  irresponsibility  and  ease  and 
personal  gratification  that  he  was  revealing  to  her 
as  his  ideal  of  life.  He  hadn't  openly  made  fun 
of  her  enthusiasm  and  zeal,  but  he  had  chilled  her 
ardour  and  silenced  her,  and  left  her  with  the  feel- 
ing that  her  knights  with  their  struggles  after  acco- 
lades and  ambitions  and  all  those  things  were  silly 
folk  who  made  much  ado  about  nothing.  It  made 
her  cross. 

In  the  silence  that  followed  there  was  a  shriek 
from  Wardo,  somewhere  back  near  the  servants' 
quarters,  and  then  such  a  lusty  crying  that  Lloyd 
sprang  up  frightened,  and  ran  to  the  rescue.  She 
was  conscience-smitten  for  having  left  him  so  long 
to  the  care  of  Enoch,  Cindy's  little  grandson,  whom 
she  had  bribed  to  amuse  him  for  an  hour.  It 
was  only  because  his  constant  presence  and  inter- 
ruptions seemed  to  bore  Leland  that  she  had  done 
it.  Wardo  did  make  tyrannical  demands  on  her 
attention,  she  had  to  admit,  dearly  as  she  loved  the 
child.  But  when  she  found  him  crying  from  a  bee- 
sting,  and  his  poor  little  lip  swollen  out  of  all  resem- 
blance to  a  Cupid's  bow  she  felt  a  twinge  of  resent- 
ment towards  Leland.  If  she  hadn't  sent  Wardo 
away  from  her,  she  thought  reproachfully,  he 
wouldn't  have  been  stunsr,  and  she  wouldn't  have 


206   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

sent  him  if  Leland  had  acted  nicer  about  having  him 
around.  He  had  actually  muttered  in  Mom  Beck's 
hearing  that  it  was  "  a  beastly  bore  always  having 
that  kid  poking  in." 

She  had  resented  it  at  the  time  Mom  Beck  re- 
peated it,  but  excused  it  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
not  used  to  children,  and  that  Wardo's  persistent 
questions  and  demands  did  tax  one's  patience  dread- 
fully sometimes.  But  now  as  he  clung  to  her,  sob- 
bing and  screaming,  she  thought  reproachfully,  "  He 
might  at  least  have  come  around  to  find  out  what 
was  the  mattah,  when  he  knows  how  devoted  I 
am  to  the  poah  little  thing,  even  if  he  didn't  take 
any  interest  in  him  himself.  I'll  keep  Wardo  with 
me  all  the  time  aftah  this,  even  if  it  does  bo'ah 
him." 

Leading  him  back  to  the  porch  she  took  him  in 
her  lap  and  quieted  him  with  the  promise  of  a  won- 
derful box  of  paints  which  he  should  have  next  day, 
with  which  to  colour  all  the  pretty  pictures  in  all  the 
magazines.  And  she  quite  ignored  Leland  for  awhile 
to  punish  him,  not  knowing  that  he  understood  her 
pique  and  was  amused  at  it,  and  that  he  was  enjoy- 
ing the  picture  she  made  rocking  back  and  forth  in 
the  low  chair,  with  Wardo's  golden  curls  pressed 


BY   THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  207 

against  her  shoulder,  and  the  dimpled  arms  clinging 
around  her  neck. 

Next  day  she  forgot  the  paints  until  it  was  too 
late  for  her  to  get  them,  and  Betty  who  was  going 
over  to  The  Beeches  and  past  the  store,  offered  to 
take  Wardo  and  let  him  have  the  pleasure  of  buy- 
ing them  himself.  After  they  had  gone  she  went 
down  to  the  porch  to  wait  for  Leland.  It  was 
almost  lesson  time.  Yesterday's  feeling  of  resent- 
ment had  entirely  passed,  and  she  looked  down  the 
avenue  expectantly  from  her  seat  behind  the  vines. 
Any  moment  he  might  turn  in  at  the  gate.  The 
thought  gave  her  a  pleasant  thrill  of  anticipation. 
As  the  moments  slipped  by  she  opened  her  book 
and  began  repeating  the  verses  marked  for  her  to 
memorize. 

Presently  she  looked  up  to  see  a  small  coloured 
boy  wandering  up  the  avenue  as  if  he  had 
no  particular  destination  in  view  and  no  great  de- 
sire to  arrive  anywhere.  She  supposed  he  was  the 
bearer  of  a  message  to  the  cook,  but  instead  of  go- 
ing around  the  house  he  came  towards  her  with  a 
note  in  his  hand.  It  was  from  Leland  she  saw  at  the 
first  glance,  and  written  in  Spanish  at  the  second. 

She  could  read  enough  of  it  to  understand  that 
he  was  not  coming  that  morning,  but  for  the  rest 


208   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

of  it  she  had  to  turn  to  her  lexicon  for  help  in 
translating-.  After  some  time  and  with  much  diffi- 
culty she  managed  to  make  out  the  reason.  He  had 
gone  to  Louisville  for  the  day  quite  unexpectedly 
with  his  brother  —  a  matter  of  business.  He  was 
sorry  not  to  be  able  to  keep  his  engagement  with 
her.  Only  dire  necessity  kept  him  away,  and  he 
would  be  with  her  in  the  evening.  Until  then  adieu. 
She  had  to  turn  to  her  lexicon  again  for  that  next 
word,  and  having  found  it  wondered  how  he  had 
dared  to  put  it  in  —  that  caressing  little  name, 
that  word  of  endearment  which  he  would  not  have 
presumed  to  use  in  English.  It  made  the  colour 
flame  up  in  her  face. 

But  he  was  not  coming.  She  let  the  note  fall  to 
her  lap  with  an  exclamation  of  disappointment. 
Then  wide  eyed  and  surprised  she  sat  up  straight, 
suddenly  aware  how  deep  that  disappointment  was ; 
suddenly  realizing  what  she  had  never  known  till 
this  moment,  how  large  a  place  Leland  Harcourt 
had  grown  to  hold  in  her  thoughts.  Everywhere 
she  turned  she  could  see  his  face  with  that  quick 
flashing  smile  she  loved  to  bring  to  it.  She  could 
see  that  impetuous  toss  of  the  head,  the  eager 
gesture  of  his  long  slender  hand,  the  easy  grace  of 


BY   THE  SILVER    YARD -STICK  2og 

his  manner  that  gave  him  his  distinguished,  patri- 
cian air. 

"  Why,  I'm  like  Hildegarde ! "  she  whispered 
wonderingly.  "  '  His  eyes  are  so  blue  they  fill  all 
my  dreams ! '     Only  Mistah  Harcourt's  are  dark." 

Now  if  Lloyd  had  never  heard  the  story  of  the 
Three  Weavers,  never  been  a  member  of  the  Order 
of  Hildegarde,  never  made  the  promise  to  her 
father  about  the  silver  yard-stick,  her  reverie  in  the 
hammock  that  morning  might  have  led  to  a  very 
different  result.  But  because  she  had  promised,  and 
because  she  must  keep  tryst  no  matter  how  hard  it 
was  to  do,  she  faced  the  matter  squarely. 

"  He  wouldn't  have  put  that  word  in  the  note 
if  he  wasn't  beginning  to  care  for  me,"  she  ad- 
mitted, "  and  it  wouldn't  make  me  have  that  queah 
little  sawt  of  half-way  glad  feeling  if  I  wasn't  be- 
ginning to  care  for  him." 

The  hammock  swung  faster.  She  was  thinking 
of  a  day  on  the  seashore  years  before,  when  she 
had  been  playing  out  on  the  rocks.  And  while  she 
built  her  little  castles  the  tide  came  creeping  in, 
creeping  so  quietly  that  she  did  not  know  it  was 
there  until  all  the  sand  between  her  and  safety  was 
covered  and  a  fisherman  had  to  wade  in  and  carry 
her  out.    Although  she  did  not  put  the  comparison 


2IO    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

into  words,  that  was  what  she  felt  was  happening 
now,  and  much  as  she  liked  him  and  loved  to  be 
with  him  and  missed  him  when  he  did  not  come, 
she  felt  that  his  influence  over  her  was  creeping  up 
like  a  tide  that  would  surely  drown  her  ability  to 
keep  her  promise  to  her  father. 

"  He  does  influence  me,"  she  admitted  to  herself. 
"  I  might  as  well  be  honest  about  it.  Sometimes  he 
can  almost  make  me  believe  that  black  is  white. 
How  do  I  know  but  what  I  might  grow  to  be  like 
poah  mistaken  Hertha?  He  was  only  a  page,  but 
she  called  him  prince  in  her  thought  until  she  really 
believed  him  one." 

Then  as  yesterday's  conversation  came  back  to  her 
she  sprang  from  the  hammock  saying  to  herself, 
"  And  he  isn't  even  a  knight,  or  he  wouldn't  have 
made  fun  of  my  poah  little  attempt  to  make  him 
listen  to  the  King's  call.  I'll  not  think  about  him  a 
minute  longah.  It  would  only  be  squandahing  the 
golden  thread  that  Clotho  left  me." 

Running  up  the  stairs  she  got  her  hat  and  started 
to  follow  Betty.  But  all  the  way  up  and  all  the  way 
down  and  all  the  way  that  she  went  towards  The 
Beeches  that  little  word  at  the  end  of  the  letter  — 
that  sweet  caressing  bird-note  of  a  name,  sang  it- 


BY   THE  SILVER   YARD -STICK  31  i 

self  over  and  over  to  her.  He  had  called  her  that, 
and  to-night  he  was  coming. 

She  did  not  go  all  the  way  to  The  Beeches,  for 
she  met  Betty  on  the  way  back,  Wardo  proudly 
bearing  his  box  of  paints,  and  Betty  re-reading  a 
letter  which  she  had  found  in  the  office.  It  was 
from  Madam  Chartley.  There  was  a  vacancy  in 
Warwick  Hall  itself  and  she  was  to>  fill  it;  was  to 
be  her  beloved  Miss  Chilton's  assistant  in  the  Eng- 
lish classes.  Her  happiness  was  as  great  over  this 
news  as  her  disappointment  had  been  over  the  re- 
turn of  her  manuscript.  As  Madam  Chartley 
wanted  her  at  the  school  by  the  first  of  September 
there  were  only  two  weeks  in  which  to  make  her 
preparations  to  leave. 

Although  Lloyd  had  heard  the  matter  discussed 
she  never  fully  believed  that  Betty  was  going  away 
from  Locust  until  she  had  the  letter  in  her  own 
hands  and  read  Madam  Chartley's  expression  of 
pleasure  at  the  prospect  of  having  Betty  with  her 
permanently.  It  swept  away  all  thought  of  her  own 
affairs,  for  Betty  had  grown  as  dear  to  her  as  a 
sister  in  the  years  they  had  been  together.  She  fol- 
lowed her  mournfully  into  the  white  and  gold  room, 
offering  to  help  her  with  her  preparations,  and 
pouring   out   her   regret   and   her   disapproval   of 


213    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Betty's  plans.  It  wasn't  necessary  at  all  she  insisted 
for  Betty  to  leave  them,  and  Locust  wouldn't  be  the 
same  place  with  her  gone. 

Wardo  required  less  attention  than  usual  that 
afternoon,  for  charmed  with  his  new  paints,  he  sat 
at  a  low  table  in  Betty's  room  while  the  girls  sewed 
and  talked,  and  coloured  the  pictures  in  every  maga- 
zine he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  It  was  sunset  when 
Lloyd  noticed  how  long  he  had  been  bending  over 
the  table,  and  persuaded  him  to  lay  aside  his  brush 
till  next  day. 

"  Look  at  the  pretty  red  sunset,"  she  urged,  trying 
to  interest  him  in  something  else.  "  It's  as  red  as  a 
cherry." 

He  looked  at  it  solemnly,  considering  her  com- 
parison. "  No,  it's  wed  as  the  blood  of  a  thousand 
dwagons,"  he  answered. 

Lloyd  looked  at  him  in  astonishment.  "  What 
do  you  know  about  dragons,  child  ?  " 

"  Betty  telled  me,  when  I  painted  one  wif  my 
paints,  here  in  this  book."  He  began  turning  the 
leaves  of  one  of  the  magazines.  "  Dwagons  is  the 
stwongest  lings  there  is,"  he  added  with  a  know- 
ing wag  of  his  head,  feeling  that  she  needed  en- 
lightenment. "  But  my  fahvah  could  fight  one  — 
He's  so  stwong.     My  fahvah  could  fight  anyfing." 


BY   THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  213 

"  Always  the  same  old  story,"  said  Lloyd  in  a  low 
tone  to  Betty.  "  Isn't  it  dreadful?  Always  harping 
on  the  perfection  of  his  hero.  Seems  to  me  it  would 
have  been  bettah  if  she  had  not  tried  to  keep  the 
truth  from  him.  The  disillusionment  is  going  to  be 
feahful  some  of  these  days.  It  will  shake  his  be- 
lief in  everything." 

As  she  rocked  back  and  forth  with  his  warm  little 
body  nestled  against  her,  she  thought  how  differently 
Ida  would  have  chosen  could  she  have  known  that 
this  precious  little  soul  was  to  be  given  into  her 
keeping.  If  somebody  had  only  gone  to  her  with 
old  Hildgardmar's  warning  —  "  Remember  that  in 
the  right  weaving  of  this  web  depends  not  only  thy 
own  happiness  but  the  happiness  of  all  those  who 
come  after  thee,"  it  might  have  made  a  world  of 
difference.  But  nobody  had  opened  her  eyes  to  the 
enormity  of  the  responsibility  she  was  assuming, 
and  now,  maybe  despite  all  her  careful  training 
and  frantic  efforts  to  make  her  little  son  what  she 
would  have  him  be,  she  might  not  be  able  to  turn 
his  life  out  of  the  channel  of  his  inherited  tastes  and 
appetites. 

It  must  be  awful  she  thought,  hugging  him  closer, 
to  love  a  child  with  the  passionate  devotion  that  Ida 
loved  this  one,  and  have  it  grow  up  into  a  worthless 


2T4    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

vagabond  like  Ned  Barman.  Then  a  stray  wonder 
crossed  her  mind  if  Leland  Harcourt's  mother  would 
have  been  disappointed  in  him  if  she  could  have 
lived  to  see  him  wasting  his  splendid  talents  and 
opportunities;  just  drifting  along  in  an  aimless, 
thistledown  sort  of  existence  when  he  might  be  such 
a  power  for  good  if  he  would  only  exert  himself. 

"  He  doesn't  measuah  up  to  the  third  notch  at 
all,"  she  admitted  with  a  feeling  of  regret. 

Just  then  there  was  a  long  distance  call  for  her  at 
the  telephone,  and  hastily  putting  Wardo  down  she 
went  to  answer  it. 

"  It's  from  Mistah  Harcourt,"  she  called  care- 
lessly, in  answer  to  her  mother's  inquiry  from  the 
next  room.  "  He  was  coming  ovah  to-night  but 
something  detained  him  in  Louisville,  and  he  called 
me  up  to  tell  me  not  to  expect  him." 

She  hoped  that  she  had  kept  the  flutter  out  of  her 
voice  that  the  sound  of  his  voice  brought  into  her 
pulses.  For  at  the  close  of  this  commonplace  mes- 
sage was  the  request  that  she  make  no  engagement 
with  any  one  else  for  the  next  night.  He  had  some- 
thing to  tell  her,  and  then  —  there  was  that  same 
word  with  which  he  had  closed  his  note  —  that  soft 
musical  name,  seeming  twice  as  personal  and  signifi- 
cant because  of  the  tone  in  which  he  said  it.     She 


BY   THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  215 

felt  that  he  must  be  conscious  of  the  quick  blush  it 
brought  to  her  face  as  she  hastily  hung  up  the  re- 
ceiver. 

That  night  for  the  first  time  that  summer  Lloyd 
was  alone  with  her  father  and  mother.  Betty  had 
Madam  Chartley's  letter  to  answer,  and  the  old 
Colonel  had  gone  out  to  dinner.  The  three  sat  on 
the  broad  white-pillared  porch  in  the  moonlight, 
Lloyd  on  the  step  at  her  father's  feet,  her  arm  on  his 
knee.  Ever  since  the  telephone  message  her 
thoughts  had  been  in  a  tumult.  It  was  useless  for 
her  to  pretend  that  she  didn't  know  why  Leland 
wanted  to  see  her  alone,  and  what  it  was  he  was 
coming  to  tell  her.  She  was  glad  and  sorry  and  half 
frightened  and  altogether  confused.  "  He  isn't  the 
prince  at  all,"  she  kept  saying  to  herself  as  if  it  were 
a  charm  that  would  help  her  ward  off  his  approach 
and  keep  her  true  to  her  Hildegarde  promise. 

And  yet  — -  his  wooing  was  the  kind  one  reads 
of  in  books.  She  would  be  sorry  to  have  that  come 
to  an  end.  It  was  so  delightful  to  have  some  one 
write  poems  to  her  and  sing  songs  in  such  a  way 
that  every  tone  and  glance  dedicated  them  to  her 
alone.  If  one  could  only  go  on  that  way  through 
all  the  summers,  being  adored  in  that  fashion,  know- 
ing she  was  crowned  queen  in  somebody's  heart,  how 


2l6    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

delightful  it  would  be.  But  she  didn't  want  things 
to  come  to  a  crisis  when  she  would  have  to  make 
grave  decisions  and  solemn  promises.  She  didn't 
want  to1  go  one  step  farther  than  this  borderland  of 
romance  where  they  lingered  now.  What  she 
wanted  was  just  to  go  on  building  her  little  castles 
as  she  had  done  that  day  on  the  sea-shore,  and  yet 
be  assured  that  the  tide  wouldn't  come  creeping  up 
any  farther.  It  was  just  far  enough  now  to  be  in- 
teresting. She  wished  they  would  begin  to  talk 
about  things  like  that,  but  she  shrank  from  bringing 
up  such  a  subject  herself.  After  awhile  she 
broached  one  almost  akin. 

"  Mothah,"  she  asked,  breaking  a  long  com- 
fortable silence  that  had  fallen  on  them,  "  do  you 
think  that  Lucy  is  happy  ?  " 

"  No,  not  entirely  —  that  is  just  at  present,"  Mrs. 
Sherman  answered  slowly,  as  if  considering. 
"  She's  hardly  adjusted  herself  yet  to  the  new 
order  of  things,  but  she  will  in  time  because 
she's  such  a  yielding  little  soul,  and  is  really  devoted 
to  her  husband.  For  instance,  when  he  insisted  she 
gave  up  her  church  to  please  him  and  joined  his. 
It  meant  a  great  struggle  and  a  sacrifice  on  her  part, 
and  he  is  not  at  all  devout,  doesn't  attend  services 
more  than  twice  a  year;  so  it  couldn't  have  made 


BY    THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  21 7 

such  a  vital  difference  to  him  where  she  went.  Then 
at  home  her  father  always  placed  a  certain  amount 
in  the  bank  every  month  to  his  wife's  credit,  so  there 
never  wa:  any  unpleasantness  about  money  matters. 
While  Tamt  on  is  very  wealthy  and  lavishes  luxuries 
and  beautiful  :lothes  on  her,  he  reserves  the  pleasure 
of  buying  and  spending-  entirely  to  himself.  Treats 
her  like  a  child  in  their  financial  arrangements,  and 
doles  out  little  allowances  as  if  she  couldn't  be 
trusted  to  spend  it  intelligently.  She's  so  sensitive 
that  she'd  rather  go  without  than  ask  him  for  a 
cent,  and  it  often  puts  her  in  an  embarrassing  posi- 
tion to  be  without." 

"  In  other  words,"  put  in  Papa  Jack,  "  he's 
thoroughly  inconsiderate  and  selfish,  although  I 
imagine  he'd  be  mightily  amazed  if  any  one  applied 
that  term  to  him  since  he  is  so  lavish  in  giving 
things  in  his  own  way." 

"  Yes,  he  is,"  was  the  answer.  "  I've  noticed  it  in 
a  dozen  little  ways.  It's  always  his  wishes  and  his 
tastes  that  have  to  be  consulted,  never  Lucy's.  Yet 
aside  from  that  trait  he  is  a  thoroughly  fine  man, 
and  because  she  respects  him  and  looks  up  to  him 
and  is  such  a  sweet  yielding  little  creature,  he'll 
come  in  time  to  be  the  centre  of  her  universe,  and 
she'll  revolve  around  him  like  a  loyal  little  planet. 


2l8    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

But  a  girl  of  a  different  temperament  wouldn't.  If 
she  were  impetuous  and  highstrung  like  you  for 
instance,"  she  added  with  a  smile  at  Lloyd,  "  she 
would  see  the  injustice  of  it  and  resent  it  so  bitterly 
that  there  would  be  continual  friction  and  jar.  With 
your  temperament  you  couldn't  live  peaceably  with 
anybody  like  that." 

"  I  know  I  couldn't,"  admitted  Lloyd  frankly, 
"  especially  if  he  showed  any  jealousy.  Mistah 
Jameson  is  jealous  of  every  friend  Lucy  evah  had 
at  the  Post.  He  doesn't  like  it  a  bit  when  she  refers 
to  the  good  times  she  used  to  have  with  the  boys 
there,  even  when  they  were  just  ordinary  friends. 
Half  a  dozen  times  I've  seen  the  tears  come  to  her 
eyes  at  some  inconsiderate  thing  he'd  say,  and  I'd 
think  if  I  were  Lucy  I  couldn't  sit  there  and  take  it 
like  a  martyr.  I'd  have  to  jump  up  and  shake  him 
till  his  teeth  rattled." 

"  What  a  cat  and  dog  time  you  would  have," 
laughed  Mrs.  Sherman.  "  Worse  than  little  Mary 
Ware's  nightmare  that  she  had  after  Eugenia's  wed- 
ding." 

"  By  the  way,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Sherman,  slapping 
his  pockets  to  find  a  letter  he  had  placed  in  one  of 
them,  "  I  knew  there  was  something  I  intended  to 
tell  you.    Jack  Ware  is  on  his  way  here  now." 


BY    THE   SILVER    YARD -STICK  219 

Then  in  answer  to  the  surprise  and  the  questions 
that  greeted  his  announcement  he  explained,  "  I  sug- 
gested making  him  assistant  manager  of  the  mines 
and  the  Company  wants  to  have  a  look  at  him,  and 
put  him  through  a  sort  of  examination.  He's  so 
young  they  rather  doubt  my  judgment  in  the  mat- 
ter. But  they'll  find  out  when  they  see  him.  We 
telegraphed  him  to  come,  and  he  left  Arizona  several 
days  ago.  He'll  be  here  only  a  day  and  night 
probably." 

Lloyd  left  her  seat  on  the  step  and  took  a  chair 
beside  her  father,  sitting  straight  and  alert  in  her 
interest.  It  was  hard  to  realize  that  Jack  Ware 
was  grown.  He  was  only  fourteen  when  she  had 
known  him  on  the  desert.  "  Oh,  will  you  evah  for- 
get," she  laughed,  "  the  way  he  looked  when  we  sur- 
prised him  at  the  washtub,  all  tied  up  in  an  apron, 
helping  Joyce  with  the  family  washing?" 

"  His  readiness  to  pitch  in  to  whatever  is  to  be 
done  is  his  chief  characteristic,"  was  the  an- 
swer. "  That  is  what  makes  him  so  valuable  at  the 
mines.  Patient  and  reliable  and  strong,  he  is  one  of 
the  finest  young  fellows  of  my  acquaintance.  He'll 
be  one  of  the  big  men  of  the  West  some  day,  for 
young  as  he  is,  he  is  into  everything  that  makes  for 


220    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

the  welfare  and  development  of  the  territory  he 
lives  in." 

All  the  rest  of  the  evening  was  spent  in  recalling 
that  visit  to  Ware's  Wigwam,  and  when  Lloyd  went 
up  to  bed,  although  Leland  Harcourt's  name  had 
not  been  mentioned,  she  felt  that  her  doubts  and 
unspoken  questions  about  him  had  been  answered. 
She  must  not  listen  any  more  to  that  little  name, 
that  caressing  little  name  that  left  such  a  thrill  in 
its  wake. 

"  Wise  old  Hildgardmar,"  said  Mrs.  Sherman  in 
a  playful  tone  after  Lloyd  had  left  them.  "  I  don't 
suppose  when  you  sent  for  Jack  that  it  entered  your 
head  you  were  giving  her  the  very  safeguard  of 
contrast  that  I  hoped  she  might  have,  but  you  will 
be  doing  it  all  the  same." 

"  No,  I  didn't,"  he  confessed,  "  but  I  think  you 
are  magnifying  the  interest  she  has  in  Harcourt. 
She  never  mentioned  his  name  all  evening." 

"  But  she  talked  all  around  him,"  answered  Mrs. 
Sherman,  "  and  I  think  she  came  to  the  conclusion 
before  she  went  up-stairs  that  he  does  not  measure 
up  to  your  standards,  and  is  almost  sure  that  he 
does  not  even  meet  hers." 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE   END   OF   SEVERAL   THINGS 

The  old  Colonel  was  in  the  library,  telling  for  the 
hundredth  time  to  the  small  listener  on  his  knee  the 
story  of  the  battle  that  had  taken  his  right  arm. 
For  since  Wardo  had  found  that  his  father's  father 
was  in  the  same  wild  charge  against  the  Yankees, 
and  had  fought  like  a  tiger  till  a  wound  in  the  head 
and  another  in  the  knee  sent  him  to  the  rear  on  a 
stretcher,  he  could  not  hear  the  story  often  enough. 
And  that  led  to  other  tales  of  things  that  had  hap- 
pened when  the  two  soldier-friends  were  school- 
boys. It  puzzled  Wardo  to  find  any  resemblance 
between  the  mischievous  boy  whom  the  Colonel  re- 
ferred to  as  Cy  Bannon,  and  the  dignified  judge 
whose  picture  hung  on  the  wall  of  the  Colonel's 
den. 

"  Oh,  his  name  was  Cyrus  Edward  then,  just  as 
yours  is  now,"  explained  the  Colonel  when  he  finally 
understood  the  difficulty.     "  But  it  was  too  long  a 

Z2A 


222    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

name  for  such  a  grasshopper  of  a  lad.  He'd  have 
been  out  of  sight  before  you  could  say  it  all.  So 
they  cut  it  down  to  Cy,  just  as  yours  is  cut  to 
Wardo." 

"  Will  I  be  Judge  Cy  wus  Edwa'd  Bannon  then 
when  I'm  gwoed  up  ?  "    asked  Wardo. 

The  seriousness  of  the  big  innocent  eyes  fixed  on 
him  made  the  Colonel  move  uneasily.  "  Heaven 
knows,"  he  muttered.  "  /  don't.  But  it's  to  be 
hoped  you'll  take  after  him  instead  of  the  one  next 
in  line  of  succession." 

The  question  made  such  a  profound  impression 
on  him  he  could  not  shake  it  off,  and  acting  on  the 
impulse  of  the  moment  he  decided  to  take  it  to  the 
Judge  himself  for  an  answer.  He  would  show  him 
the  winsome  little  lad  who  bore  his  name.  He  would 
demand  of  him  what  right  he  had  to  withhold  from 
him  the  protection  and  shelter  that  was  his  heritage. 
The  child's  father  had  been  cast  off  in  proud  scorn 
for  his  profligate  ways.  Secretly  the  Colonel  had 
always  thought  that  his  old  friend  had  shirked  re- 
sponsibility, and  that  the  open  repudiation  of  him 
by  his  family  had  given  Ned  his  final  downward 
shove. 

It  made  no  difference  to  the  Colonel  that  Ned's 
name  was  a  forbidden  one  in  the  household.    He'd 


THE  END   OF  SEVERAL   THINGS  223 

tell  Cy  Bannon  a  few  things.  Then  his  face  soft- 
ened and  he  smiled  a  trifle  foolishly,  muttering 
something  about  its  being  a  case  of  the  pot  calling 
the  kettle  black.  The  Judge  might  come  back  at 
him  with  the  argument  that  he  had  been  just  as 
harsh  with  his  own  child  for  far  less  cause ;  but  that 
would  only  give  him  a  chance  to  urge  a  reconcilia- 
tion on  the  ground  that  he  had  surrendered  grace- 
fully, and  had  been  glad  of  it  ever  since.  Cy  would 
be  a  mighty  queer  sort  of  man,  he  concluded,  if  he 
could  hold  out  against  such  a  little  grandson  as 
Wardo.  He  was  a  child  to  walk  into  anybody's 
affections. 

Lloyd  had  left  the  pair  so  deeply  absorbed  in  war- 
stories,  that  she  was  surprised  on  her  return  to  the 
library  a  little  later,  to  find  no  trace  of  either  of 
them.  They'd  gone  for  a  trolley  ride  Walker  told 
her,  and  expected  to  be  gone  most  of  the  morning. 
So  relieved  of  her  responsibility  Lloyd  made  a 
longer  visit  in  Rollington  than  usual.  The  crisis 
had  been  passed  some  time  now,  and  Ida  was  so 
much  better  she  was  beginning  to  talk  about 
Wardo's  return.  She  would  be  able  to  sit  up  in  a 
few  days.  As  Lloyd  entertained  her  with  accounts 
of  Wardo's  sayings  and  doings  she  realized  more 
and  more  what  a  large  place  he  had  come  to  fill  in 


224    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

the  household,  and  how  sorely  they  would  all  miss 
him  when  they  had  to  give  him  up.  Ida's  future 
looked  so  hopeless.  It  would  be  a  long  time  before 
she  would  be  strong  enough  to  begin  sewing  again. 
She  talked  wearily  of  the  burden  she  must  assume 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  Lloyd  came  away  weighed 
down  with  a  sense  of  the  injustice  and  wrong  in  the 
world  and  her  helplessness  to  right  it. 

It  was  nearly  noon  when  she  reached  the  house. 
Wardo,  who  had  just  come  in  with  her  grandfather, 
rushed  down  the  steps  to  meet  her,  his  sailor  hat  on 
the  back  of  his  head,  and  his  arms  outstretched  to 
give  her  glad  welcome.  He  clasped  her  around  the 
knees,  and  put  up  his  face  to  be  kissed.  His  morn- 
ing's adventures  made  him  feel  that  he  had  been 
away  an  age.  Then  his  voice  trembling  with  the 
importance  of  his  news,  he  announced  the  three 
things  of  his  visit  which  had  made  the  most  im- 
pression on  him. 

"  I  saw  the  place  on  my  gwan'fahvah's  head 
where  the  Yankee  bullet  hit  him,  wite  over  his  eye ! 
An'  the  Colonel  he  shaked  his  stick  at  my  gwan'- 
fahvah,  and  got  wed  in  the  face  when  he  talked." 
Then  digging  down  into  the  mite  of  a  pocket  that 
graced  his  blouse,  he  triumphantly  brought  out  the 


THE   END   OF   SEVERAL    THINGS  225 

third  item,  a  silver  dollar  that  Judge  Bannon  had 
given  him. 

By  this  time  the  Colonel  had  come  out,  and  in 
answer  to  Lloyd's  excited  questions  confessed  the 
truth  of  Wardo's  tale.  He  had  shaken  his  stick  at 
the  Judge.  They  had  had  a  stormy  interview  and 
he  lost  his  temper.  He  was  sorry  at  first  that  he 
had  taken  Wardo,  the  child  was  so  frightened,  but 
it  proved  a  good  move,  for  his  appealing  little  face 
pleaded  his  cause  better  than  anything  else  could 
have  done,  and  in  the  end  the  Judge  was  completely 
won  over  by  his  handsome  little  namesake. 

"  And,"  concluded  the  Colonel  triumphantly, 
"  he's  promised  to  take  Ned  back  and  give  him  one 
more  chance.  He'll  keep  the  lad  and  his  mother  in 
any  event,  and  he's  to  send  for  them  just  as  soon 
as  she's  able  to  be  moved." 

"  Oh,  you  blessed  old  peace-makah !  '  cried  Lloyd 
running  up  the  steps  to  throw  her  arms  around  his 
neck  and  give  him  as  rapturous  a  hug  as  Wardo 
had  given  her.  "  You're  a  perfect  darling,  and 
you've  made  me  so  happy  I  don't  know  what  to  do 
or  say.  I  believe  I'm  as  happy  as  Ida  will  be  when 
she  heahs  it,  and  I'm  going  ovah  there  the  minute 
I've  had  lunch,  to  tell  her.     You're  a  public  bene* 


226    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

factah  and  everything  else  in  the  dictionary  that's 
extra  nice  and  fine." 

It  was  joy  to  the  Colonel  to  have  his  praises  sung1 
like  that,  and  he  went  around  the  rest  of  the  week 
with  a  self-satisfied  virtuous  feeling  that  kept  him 
beaming  benignly  on  everything  and  everybody. 
In  such  an  angelic  humour  was  he,  that  Walker 
confided  to  Mom  Beck  that  he  was  "  right  sma'ht 
worried  'bout  ole  Marse." 

It  was  a  day  of  surprises  for  the  whole  family. 
On  Lloyd's  return  from  her  second  visit  to  Rolling- 
ton,  about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  she  saw 
Jack  Ware  on  the  rear  platform  of  the  trolley-car, 
which  passed  the  carriage  when  she  was  nearly 
home.  He  had  arrived  two  days  sooner  than  any 
one  expected  he  could.  Taller,  broader  and  browner 
by  far  than  the  slim  lad  who  waved  her  farewell 
from  the  Wigwam,  he  was  unmistakably  the  same 
Jack,  and  she  would  have  recognized  him  anywhere. 

The  second  glance  showed  her  father  standing 
just  behind  him.  They  both  leaned  out  and  waved 
their  hats  as  they  passed  the  carriage.  A  moment 
later  they  were  stepping  off  the  car  opposite  the 
entrance  gate,  and  waiting  for  her  to  come  up. 

"  Anothah  knight  comes  riding,"  she  thought 
with  a  smile,  wondering  what  put  the  whimsical 


THE   END   OF   SEVERAL    THINGS  227 

notion  in  her  head,  for  she  did  not  count  Jack  in 
that  class.  He  was  simply  her  good  comrade  of  the 
plains,  nothing  picturesque  about  him. 

"  I  don't  suppose  there  could  be  about  the  mod- 
ern knight,"  she  thought,  amused  that  such  fancies 
should  come  to  her.  "  His  only  thought  is  to  '  get 
there.'  When  young  Lochinvar  comes  out  of  the 
West  now,  his  '  steed  is  the  best '  from  that  stand- 
point, but  you  can't  make  the  pictuahs  and  poems 
out  of  trolley-cars  that  you  can  out  of  hawses  in 
those  old-time  fancy  trappings." 

Stepping  out  of  the  carriage,  she  sent  it  on  ahead 
and  turned  to  Jack  with  such  a  cordial  welcome  that 
he  reddened  with  pleasure  under  the  brown  of  his 
sunburned  cheeks. 

"  This  is  my  '  Promised  Land '  as  well  as 
Mary's,"  he  said  as  they  walked  slowly  towards 
the  house,  and  he  paused  to  look  up  at  the  grand 
old  trees  arching  over  them.  "  You've  no  idea  how 
I've  looked  forward  to  seeing  all  this.  Mother 
always  pictured  it  as  a  sort  of  Beulah  land.  Then 
Joyce  took  up  the  same  tune,  and  lastly  Mary. 
She's  the  most  enthusiastic  of  all,  and  sat  up  till 
midnight  the  day  she  found  I  was  coming,  to  make 
a  list  of  all  the  things  she  said  I  mustn't  fail  to  see 
or  ask  about." 


228  "LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Taking1  a  memorandum  book  from  his  pocket  he 
opened  it  and  held  it  out  for  Lloyd  and  her  father 
to  see.  There  were  three  pages  whereon  Mary  had 
set  down  instructions  for  him  to  follow.  Lloyd 
laughed  as  she  glanced  at  the  head-line. 

THINGS   TO  DO   WITHOUT   FAIL 

1  Make  Mr.  Rob  Moore's  acquaintance,  and  see 
Oaklea. 

2  See  The  Beeches  and  all  Mrs.  Walton's  curios, 
especially  the  bells  of  Luzon  and  mother-of-pearl 
fire-screen. 

3  See  if  Elise  Walton  is  as  pretty  as  she  used  to 
be,  and  notice  how  she  does  her  hair  now. 

4  Ask  Lloyd  to  play  on  the  harp  and  sing  the 
Dove  Song,  when  the  candles  are  lighted  in  the 
drawing-room. 

The  list  was  such  a  long  one  that  Lloyd  did  not 
read  farther,  but  glanced  at  the  page  headed  — 

THINGS  NOT  SO  IMPORTANT,  BUT  l'D  LIKE  TO  KNOW 

I  Ask  about  Girlie  Dinsmore  if  you  have  a 
chance.    Is  she  as  much  of  a  baby  as  ever? 


THE  END   OF  SEVERAL    THINGS  229 

2  What  has  become  of  that  horrid  Bernice 
Howe? 

3  Does  Betty  still  correspond  with  the  "  Pilgrim 
Father?" 

4  Look  in  the  book-case  on  the  north  side  of  the 
library,  and  copy  the  name  of  that  book  on  Spiders. 

5  Find  out  all  you  can  about  the  man  Allison 
is  going  to  marry. 

There  were  a  dozen  similar  items. 

"Isn't  that  characteristic  of  Mary?"  exclaimed 
Lloyd.  "  She's  such  a  deah  little  bunch  of  curiosity. 
Maybe  I  oughtn't  to  call  it  that.  A  live,  intense 
interest  in  everything  and  everybody  would  be  moah 
like  it.  But  only  twenty- foah  hours  to  do  it  all  in ! 
How  can  we  manage  it?  " 

"  Not  even  that,"  answered  Mr.  Sherman,  "  for 
part  of  it  must  be  spent  with  the  stock-holders." 

"  And  you  couldn't  stay  longah  ?  "  began  Lloyd. 

"  No,  I'm  due  back  at  the  mines  very  shortly,  and 
I  want  to  make  a  flying  visit  to  Joyce  in  New  York 
before  I  return,  and  stop  over  at  Annapolis  for  a 
glimpse  of  Holland.  You  know  I've  never  been 
East  before,  and  I  want  to  make  the  most  of  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Lloyd,  planning  rapidly  as  they 
walked  on.    "  We'll  crowd  just  as  much  as  possible 


230    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

into  this  one  evening.  There'll  be  time  for  a  drive 
befoah  dinnah,  that  will  give  you  a  bird's-eye  view 
of  the  Valley,  and  a  short  call  at  Oaklea  and  The 
Beeches.  We  can  ansah  Mary's  questions  as  we 
drive  along.  Befoah  we  start  I'll  telephone  in  to 
town  and  ask  Rob  to  come  ovah  and  take  dinnah 
with  you  to-night,  and  we'll  ask  the  Waltons  to 
come  ovah  —  " 

She  would  have  paused  just  there  even  if  they 
had  not  reached  the  house  and  her  sentence  been 
interrupted  by  Jack's  introduction  to  her  mother 
and  Betty,  for  as  she  mentioned  telephoning  it 
flashed  across  her  what  Leland  had  telephoned  her, 
not  to  make  any  engagement  for  that  evening,  that 
he  wanted  to  see  her  alone. 

"  But  suahly,"  she  thought,  "  he'll  undahstand 
that  that  is  impossible  undah  the  circumstances  — 
the  only  night  Jack  will  be  heah." 

The  next  few  hours  flew  by  as  if  winged.  They 
caught  Lloyd  up  out  of  the  dream-world  in  which 
she  had  been  living  and  thoroughly  wakened  her. 
It  was  such  a  busy,  breezy  world  from  Jack's  out- 
look, so  much  to  do  and  see  and  conquer.  As  she 
listened  to  his  description  of  the  little  mining  camp 
that  had  grown  into  a  town  in  the  short  time  he  had 
been  there,  and  then  to  the  enthusiastic  plans  h§ 


THE   END   OF  SEVERAL    THINGS  231 

unfolded  to  her  father  of  what  the  mine  owners 
might  do  to  develop  and  civilize  it,  she  found  her- 
self regarding  this  young  Aladdin  of  the  West  with 
growing  consideration. 

He  and  Rob  found  mutual  interests  from  the 
moment  of  meeting.  She  noted  with  surprise  how 
oddly  alike  they  were  in  their  views.  She  hadn't 
known  before  that  Rob  was  interested  in  so  many 
things  that  she  knew  nothing  about,  political  situa- 
tions and  Juvenile  Court  reforms,  and  trusts  and 
unions  and  all  those  things.  But  then  she  had 
scarcely  seen  him  since  he  had  taken  a  man's  place 
in  the  world.  Good  old  Rob!  She  was  proud  of 
the  way  he  was  discussing  these  things  with  Jack 
and  her  father  and  the  Colonel.  There  was  a  note 
of  authority  in  what  he  said  that  the  older  men  re- 
spected. But  it  did  seem  so  funny  for  him  to  be 
talking  of  anything  weightier  than  tennis  and  skat- 
ing and  his  Latin  exams,  or  college  scrapes.  He 
talked  almost  as  well  as  Leland  Harcourt  she  ad- 
mitted. 

After  dinner  Jack  took  out  his  memorandum  and 
crossed  off  all  the  items  that  had  been  attended  to. 
While  they  were  laughing  over  Mary's  questions 
and  dictating  answers  for  him  to  write  lest  he  for- 
get them,  the  Waltons  arrived  with  Gay,  who  had 


232    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

been  spending  the  day  with  them.  A  little  later 
Alex  Shelby  followed.  He  was  on  Mary's  list,  and 
had  a  number  of  messages  to  send  to  the  little  girl 
who  had  amused  him  so  greatly  at  Eugenia's  wed- 
ding with  her  quaint  speeches  and  unexpected 
questions. 

From  the  sound  of  voices  and  the  number  of 
people  in  the  drawing-room,  one  might  have  imag- 
ined that  a  reception  was  in  full  swing  when  Leland 
Harcourt  came  up  on  the  porch.  Lloyd,  recognize 
ing  his  step,  hurried  out  to  meet  him  and  explain 
why  she  had  been  unable  to  grant  his  request.  She 
ushered  him  into  the  drawing-room  to  meet  their 
guest,  anxious  that  they  should  be  favourably  im- 
pressed with  each  other.  One  could  always  count 
on  Leland  for  doing  the  graceful  thing  socially  she 
thought  complacently,  but  this  one  time  he  failed 
her. 

He  had  been  at  the  house  so  constantly  all  sum- 
mer that  she  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  make  any 
special  effort  for  his  entertainment  now,  other  than 
to  draw  him  into  the  conversation  with  Jack  and 
Rob.  They  were  the  comparative  strangers  and 
she  was  giving  them  the  most  of  her  attention. 
Rob  had  been  at  the  house  only  twice  that  summer. 
Ke  was  as  interested  as  she  in  hearing  about  Joyce 


THE  END   OF   SEVERAL    THINGS  233 

and  Mary,  so  when  she  found  that  Leland  did  not 
seem  to  care  to  talk,  she  went  back  to  their  former 
conversation,  recalling  the  duck  hunt,  the  picnic  at 
Hole-in-the-rock,  and  their  dinner  at  "  Coffe  Al's  " 
with  Phil  Tremont 

Everybody  else  was  talking.  Everybody  else 
seemed  in  good  spirits  but  Leland  Harcourt. 
Lloyd  could  almost  feel  his  silence  it  became  so 
marked. 

"  He's  sulky,"  she  thought.  "  It's  just  his  horrid 
jealousy  cropping  out  like  his  brothah  Jameson's. 
He  doesn't  want  me  to  be  nice  to  my  oldest  and 
deahest  friends.     I  wish  he  wouldn't  act  that  way." 

Then  she  sang,  since  it  was  next  in  order  on 
Mary's  memorandum,  and  while  she  sang,  although 
she  did  not  once  look  at  him  directly,  she  was  un- 
comfortably conscious  that  his  eyes  were  fixed  on 
her  with  the  determined  gaze  which  they  always 
wore  when  he  had  some  resolve  which  he  intended 
to  carry  out  at  all  hazards. 

As  she  turned  from  the  harp  he  was  the  first  to 
rise  and  place  a  chair  for  her.  Bending  over  her 
he  said,  under  cover  of  the  applause,  "  I'll  not  be 
put  off  any  longer.  You  must  let  me  see  you  a  few 
minutes  just  as  soon  as  I  can  make  an  opportunity 
for  you  to  slip  out  of  the  room." 


234    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Low  as  his  voice  was,  Rob,  who  was  sitting  just 
behind  him,  heard  what  he  said,  and  then  something 
else  that  he  added  in  Spanish.  Just  a  word,  but  it 
seemed  to  carry  some  potent  appeal,  for  with  a 
slight  flush  she  rose.  Leland  made  the  opportunity- 
he  wished,  by  saying  to  Jack  that  one  of  the  pleas- 
ures not  to  be  missed  was  hearing  Gay  play  the 
violin.  Of  course  Jack  immediately  asked  for  the 
nocturne  which  he  suggested,  and  Gay,  always 
obliging,  at  once  complied. 

Under  cover  of  the  music  Leland  stepped  into 
the  hall,  holding  the  portiere  aside  with  a  bow  for 
Lloyd  to  pass  through.  Rob's  glance  followed 
them  across  the  hall,  across  the  moonlighted  porch 
to  the  avenue,  where  the  locust  shadows  fell  dense 
and  black.  Then  he  turned  his  attention  resolutely 
to  the  music,  listening  as  if  in  rapt  enjoyment,  but 
in  reality  never  hearing  a  note. 

The  nocturne  came  to  an  end,  and  there  was  an 
encore  and  still  another  before  Lloyd  came  back  into 
the  room.  She  was  alone,  and  Rob,  in  one  quick 
glance,  saw  that  all  the  bright  colour  had  left  her 
face.  She  was  gripping  her  little  lace  fan  nervously, 
and  her  hazel  eyes  had  deepened  almost  to  black  as 
they  always  did  under  the  strain  of  unusual  excite- 
ment or  emotion.    He  was  sure  that  she  was  very 


THE  END   OF  SEVERAL   THINGS  235 

near  tears,  and  with  his  usual  impulse  to  shield  her 
from  all  that  was  unpleasant,  he  moved  his  chair 
so  that  no  one  else  saw  her  agitation  and  began  talk- 
ing volubly  about  the  first  thing  he  could  think  of. 
It  happened  to  be  Mary  Ware's  method  of  getting 
rid  of  an  unwelcome  truest  by  playing  Fox  and 
Stork,  and  as  she  listened  to  the  lengthy  story  he 
purposely  made  of  it,  she  had  time  to  regain  her 
composure  before  any  one  else  came  up. 

Afterwards  he  heard  her  explaining  to  Mrs. 
Walton,  "  Mistah  Harcourt  had  to  leave  early,  and 
didn't  want  to  break  up  the  pah'ty  by  coming  in  to 
say  good  night." 

When  Rob  heard  next  day  that  Leland  was  leav- 
ing the  Valley  at  once  for  a  trip  to  South  America, 
he  thought  he  understood  the  cause  of  Lloyd's  agita- 
tion. It  distressed  her  to  have  him  go  so  far  away. 
He  had  been  positive  for  some  time  that  there  was 
some  understanding  between  them.  Now  this  con- 
firmed his  suspicions. 

Lloyd  was  grieved  over  the  parting,  but  not  to 
the  extent  Rob  imagined.  Many  a  night  after,  she 
sat  curled  up  on  the  window-seat  in  her  room,  look- 
ing down  through  the  trees  to  the  place  where  she 
had  stood  with  Leland  the  night  she  bade  him 
good-bye.    She  had  not  dreamed  of  such  a  stermy 


236    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

interview  as  that,  she  had  not  imagined  any  wooing 
could  be  so  impassioned,  reaching  to  such  heights 
and  depths.  He  hadn't  paid  the  slightest  attention 
when  she  tried  to  stop  him,  but  had  asserted  trium- 
phantly that  he  always  got  what  he  started  out  to 
win,  and  that  this  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death, 
and  he'd  win  her  love  or  die  in  the  attempt.  Some- 
times, in  thinkng  it  over,  she  was  afraid  he  would 
make  his  threats  true,  and  then  sometimes  she 
thought  with  a  quick  indrawn  breath,  remembering 
how  his  wild  protestations  had  thrilled  her,  that  it 
would  have  been  sweet  to  listen  if  she  could  only 
have  been  sure  that  it  was  right.  He  vowed  he 
would  come  back  when  he  could  prove  to  her  that 
he  had  won  the  accolade  which  she  seemed  to  think 
was  so  essential,  but  she  did  not  look  for  him.  In 
her  heart  she  said  that  the  one  real  romance  of  her 
life  was  at  an  end. 

Everything  seemed  to  come  to  an  end  just  then. 
Jack  left  the  next  morning,  and  before  the  close 
of  the  week  Wardo  was  taken  away.  Ida  was  able 
to  be  moved  to  the  old  Bannon  homestead  near 
Anchorage.  Although  it  was  the  one  great  thing 
Lloyd  had  wished  for,  she  missed  her  little  charge 
at  every  turn,  and  the  days  stretched  out  ahead  of 
her  long  and  empty. 


THE  END   OF  SEVERAL    THINGS  237 

The  first  of  September  Betty  went  away  with 
Elise  Walton  under  her  wing,  happy  in  the  fact 
that  she  was  to  enter  Freshman  at  Warwick  Hall, 
where  the  older  girls  had  had  such  glorious  times. 
The  next  day  the  Harcourts  closed  the  Cabin  and 
went  back  to  San  Antonio.  Gay  spent  her  last  night 
in  the  Valley  at  The  Locusts,  and  there  were  more 
bed-time  confidences  before  they  fell  asleep,  long 
after  midnight. 

"  Seems  as  if  the  end  of  the  summah  brings  the 
end  of  everything,"  sighed  Lloyd  regretfully. 

"  It's  more  like  the  beginning  of  everything  for 
you,"  contradicted  Gay.  "  You'll  be  beginning  your 
shopping  soon,  and  your  trips  to  the  tailor  and  the 
dressmaker  and  the  milliner,  and  you  know  you'll 
enjoy  getting  all  the  lovely  clothes  you're  to  have 
as  a  debutante.  It'll  be  as  much  fun  as  planning  a 
trousseau.  Then  there'll  be  your  debut  party  in 
your  Aunt  Jane's  lovely  big  town  house,  and  all 
the  rest  that's  to  follow.  It'll  be  just  grand!  A 
regular  procession  of  social  successes  and  triumphs. 

"  And  as  for  Leland,"  she  continued,  mentioning 
him  for  the  first  time  since  his  departure.  "  You 
needn't  worry  about  that.  Of  course  we  knew  what 
had  happened  just  as  soon  as  he  bounced  in  looking 
like  a  thunder-cloud,  and  announced  his  intention 


238    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

of  leaving  next  morning.  We'd  seen  it  coming  on 
all  summer.  Jameson  is  tickled  to  death  over  it, 
for  this  trip  to  South  America  is  one  he  has  been 
wanting  him  to  take  for  a  long  time.  They  have 
some  property  there  that  needs  looking  after,  and 
he  thinks  now  that  his  ambition  is  roused  he'll  take 
some  interest  in  things." 

"  But  no  mattah  what  he  does,"  said  Lloyd 
firmly,  "  I'll  nevah  change  my  mind.  I  don't  want  to 
get  married,  Gay,"  she  added  almost  tearfully.  "  I 
read  a  story  the  othah  day,  the  diary  of  a  young  girl 
that  made  me  think  of  myself.  She  said,  '  I  don't 
want  to  be  married.  Just  to  be  loved  and  adored 
and  written  to  and  crowned  Queen  of  Somebody's 
heart.'    Of  co'se  any  girl  wants  that." 

"  That's  just  the  way  I  feel,"  confided  Gay  after 
a  moment's  pause.  Then,  "  You've  been  so  busy  this 
summer  with  your  own  affairs  I  don't  suppose 
you've  noticed  what's  been  going  on  around  you; 
but  I'm  afraid  I've  got  myself  into  a  pickle.  You 
see  I've  already  invited  Kitty  down  to  San  Antonio 
to  spend  Lent  with  me,  and  I've  written  to  Frank 
Percival  about  her,  and  told  her  about  him  and  got 
them  interested  in  each  other.  You  know  ever  since 
I've  been  so  intimate  with  Kitty  I've  wanted  her  to 
marry  Frank,  so  that  she'd  always  live  near  me. 


THE  END  OF  SEVERAL   THINGS  239 

And  now  —  now  I'm  not  so  sure  that  I'm  going  to 
live  there  myself." 

"  You  dreadful  little  match-makah,"  laughed 
Lloyd,  so  amused  by  Gay's  confession  that  she 
never  thought  to  inquire  what  had  caused  her 
change  of  mind  about  her  own  residence.  "  You 
oughtn't  to  meddle  in  such  things.  Just  look  what 
a  pickle  you  got  me  into.  If  you  hadn't  made  me 
promise  what  you  did  about  being  nice  to  Mistah 
Harcourt,  and  told  him  the  things  you  did  about 
me,  we'd  nevah  have  had  the  scene  we  did,  and 
would  have  been  good  friends  always.  But  look 
what  you've  done.  Sent  him  on  a  hopeless  chase 
aftah  a  shadow,  for  he  says  he'll  nevah  change  his 
mind,  and  I  know  I  won't  change  mine." 

Gay  giggled.  "  When  an  irresistible  force  meets 
an  immovable  body,  what  docs  happen?  I've  always 
wondered." 

"  Just  what  will  happen  when  Mistah  Harcourt 
comes  back,"  was  Lloyd's  dignified  answer.  "  I'll 
not  be  moved." 

"  And  he's  not  to  be  resisted,"  said  Gay.  "  So 
there  we  go  in  the  same  old  circle.  But  I'm  glad 
for  some  reasons  that  you're  so  determined,  for  if 
I  should  make  up  my  mind  to  live  in  the  Valley 


240    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

then  I'd  be  glad  you  were  here  instead  of  in  San 
Antonio." 

"  Oh,  are  you  all  going  to  buy  the  Cabin  ?  "  ex- 
claimed Lloyd,  sitting  up  in  bed  in  her  eagerness. 
"  How  lovely." 

"  No,  '  we  all '  are  not,"  confessed  Gay.  "  I  knew 
you  didn't  have  any  idea  of  what  was  going  on  this 
summer.  But  —  well,  you  know  who  my  first 
'  Knight  of  the  Looking'-glass '  was.  He  says  the 
Scripture  says  that  '  the  first  shall  be  last,'  and  he 
insists  he  is  both.  He  wants  to  buy  the  Cabin  some 
day,  so  that  my  little  mirror  can  hang  there  always, 
up  among  the  roses  where  he  first  saw  me.  It 
would  be  sweet  and  romantic,  wouldn't  it?  But 
it  doesn't  seem  exactly  fair  to  Kitty  to  get  her  tied 
up  down  there  and  then  skip  out  and  leave  her." 

'*  Kitty  isn't  tied  up  yet,  by  a  long  shot,"  laughed 
Lloyd,  who  found  it  hard  to  take  Gay's  shy  confes- 
sion seriously.  "  But  I  can't  get  used  to  this  light- 
ning change  in  you.  You  were  so  suah  you'd  not 
have  any  Darby  and  Joan  emotions  in  yours  while 
'  Life  is  May.'  You've  talked  all  summah  against 
early  marriages." 

"  I'm  not  an  '  immovable  body  '  like  you.  And  I 
would  be  a  little  nearer  gray  hairs  if  we  waited  for 
two  years  as  we'd  certainly  have  to  do,  but  even  if 


THE  END   OF  SEVERAL    THINGS  24 1 

we  didn't  wait  it  wouldn't  be  the  same  as  it  is  with 
Lucy  and  Jameson,  and  some  other  young  married 
people  I  know.  Alex  is  so  different.  Well,  he  is," 
she  insisted  indignantly.  "  What  are  you  laughing 
at?     You  know  he's  different." 

"  Yes,  I  do  know  it,"  answered  Lloyd,  instantly 
sobered  by  her  realization  of  the  fact  that  Gay  was 
no  longer  joking,  but  was  laying  bare  her  heart's 
dearest  secret.  "  He's  a  deah,  good  fellow,  and  he'l) 
be  just  as  loving  and  true  and  sweet  to  you  always 
as  the  old  Doctah  is  to  Aunt  Alicia.  Nobody  could 
want  moah  than  that  I'm  suah.  So  heah's  my  bless- 
ing and  the  hope  that  you'll  live  to  keep  yoah  Golden 
Wedding  as  happily  as  they  are  going  to  do."  She 
leaned  over  and  kissed  her  tenderly. 

They  talked  so  late  that  night  that  Gay  almost 
missed  her  train  next  morning,  but  as  she  scrambled 
breathlessly  on  to  the  rear  platform  she  called  back 
happily,  "  What's  the  odds,  even  if  it  did  make  me 
late  ?  It  was  such  a  nice  wind-up  to  such  a  glorious 
summer." 


CHAPTER   XII 

SIX    MONTHS    LATER 

It  was  a  cold  snowy  afternoon,  late  in  January. 
Rob  Moore,  looking  at  his  watch  as  he  hurried 
along*  the  street,  found  that  he  was  ten  minutes 
ahead  of  the  time  at  which  the  next  car  was  due 
to  start  to  the  Valley.  Rather  than  wait  on  the 
windy  corner  or  take  refuge  in  the  already  crowded 
drug-store,  he  walked  on  down  to  the  car-shed.  He 
rarely  left  town  this  early.  As  he  sprang  up  the 
steps  and  took  his  seat  in  the  waiting  car,  he  saw 
that  it  was  the  one  usually  filled  by  the  school- 
children living  in  the  suburbs.  It  was  already 
nearly  filled  now  by  half -grown  boys  and  girls, 
flocking  in  with  their  book  straps  and  lunch-baskets. 
It  made  him  think  of  his  own  High  school  days. 
They  laughed  and  joked  and  called  messages  back 
and  forth  as  freely  as  if  they  were  at  home.  Here 
and  there  he  recognized  the  younger  sisters  and 
•brothers  of  some  of  his  old  classmates,  so  like  them 

242 


SIX   MONTHS  LATER  243 

that  it  gave  him  a  curious  sense  of  having  stepped 
backward  several  years.  There  was  Wat  Sewall 
wriggling  and  writhing  out  of  his  overcoat  with  the 
same  contortions  that  Fred  always  went  through 
with.  That  slap  on  the  back  with  its  accompany- 
ing "  Hi,  there,  old  man,"  was  exactly  like  T.  D. 
Williams'  salutation.  He  nearly  always  laid  a 
fellow  out  flat  when  he  spoke  to  him.  And  the 
couple  on  the  seat  in  front  of  him,  exchanging 
class  pins,  was  only  a  repetition  of  a  scene  he  had 
witnessed  dozens  of  times. 

With  a  reminiscent  smile  he  shook  out  the  pages 
of  the  evening  paper  which  he  had  bought  as  he 
came  along  and  glanced  at  the  head-lines.  But  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  read  further  the  girl  in  front 
of  him  exclaimed,  "  Look,  Harry !  Here  comes 
Miss  Sherman!  Isn't  she  perfectly  stunning  in 
that  dark  blue  broadcloth?  I  think  she's  the  pret- 
tiest debutante  of  the  season." 

"  She's  a  peach,"  was  the  enthusiastic  answer. 
"  I  say,  Ethel,  she  looks  like  you." 

Rob  did  not  see  the  girlish  blush  which  rose  to 
Ethel's  cheeks,  for  at  the  first  exclamation  he  had 
lowered  his  paper  to  peer  quickly  through  the  win- 
dow. He  had  just  a  glimpse  of  a  slender  stylish 
figure  hurrying  into  the  ticket  office. 


244    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

The  girl  in  front  was  speaking.  "  I  suppose  I've 
been  more  interested  in  the  debutantes  this  year 
than  any  other  because  Cousin  Amy  is  one  of  them. 
She  comes  out  to  Anchorage  for  a  week-end  now 
and  then  to  rest  up,  and  I  keep  her  talking  the  whole 
time  about  what  they  do.  She  says  that  Miss  Sher- 
man is  the  most  popular  of  them  all,  with  the  girls 
as  well  as  the  men.  She's  had  so  many  beautiful 
entertainments  given  in  her  honour,  and  she's  been 
asked  to  help  receive  or  pour  tea  or  do  something 
or  other  at  every  single  function  that's  been  given 
in  Louisville  this  winter.  I  think  it's  perfectly 
grand  to  be  out  in  society  when  you  can  be  as  great 
a  success  as  that.  They  say  that  the  American 
Beauties  sent  to  her  in  just  one  day  sometimes 
would  fill  a  florist's  shop  window.  There's  a  man 
from  Cincinnati  who  sends  them  all  the  time.  He's 
crazy  about  her.  I  should  be  too  if  I  were  a  man. 
Cousin  Amy  has  a  photograph  of  her  taken  in 
evening  dress,  and  she's  simply  regal  looking.  I 
don't  wonder  she  makes  a  sensation  wherever  she 
goes." 

"  Here  she  comes  now/*  interrupted  the  boy, 
turning  with  a  stare  of  frank  admiration.  Rob 
turned  too,  as  Lloyd  came  down  the  aisle,  glancing 
from  "me  side  to  another  for  an  empty  seat.    Hef 


SIX   MONTHS  LATER  245 

face  was  glowing  from  her  walk  in  the  cold  wind, 
and  the  little  hat  of  dark  blue  velvet  and  her  rich 
dark  furs  made  her  seem  fairer  than  ever  by  con- 
trast. Hers  was  a  delicate,  patrician  style  of  beauty, 
and  Rob  in  one  critical  glance  saw  that  this  winter 
in  society  had  given  the  graceful  girl  the  ease  and 
poise  of  a  charming  woman.  The  little  school-girl 
on  the  seat  in  front  had  good  reason  for  admiring 
her  so  extravagantly.  He  rose  as  she  came  nearer, 
and  stepped  out  in  the  aisle  to  give  her  the  seat  by 
the  window. 

"  Oh,  Rob!  This  is  great!  "  the  little  school-girl 
heard  her  exclaim  cordially.  "  I  haven't  seen  you 
for  an  age.  How  does  it  happen  you  are  going  out 
on  such  an  early  train?  " 

Much  as  she  was  interested  in  "  Harry's "  re- 
marks, she  wished  he  would  keep  still  at  least  until 
the  car  started.  She  wanted  to  hear  how  this  big 
handsome  man  answered  her  adorable  Miss  Sher- 
man. She  would  have  been  shocked  could  she  have 
heard  his  second  remark. 

"  There's  a  big  flake  of  soot  on  your  nose, 
Lloyd." 

"  Thanks,"  she  said,  almost  looking  cross-eyed 
in  her  endeavour  to  locate  it.  "  There  usually  is  in 
this  dirty  town.    There!    Is  it  off?  "    She  scrubbed 


246    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

away  with  a  bit  of  a  handkerchief  she  took  from 
her  muff.  "  And  I  was  flattering  myself  as  I  came 
along  that  I  looked  especially  spick  and  span,"  she 
sighed.  "  It's  refreshing  to  have  somebody  tell  you 
the  truth  about  yoahself,  and  you  nevah  were  one 
to  mince  mattahs,  Bobby." 

The  old  name  on  the  lips  of  this  pretty  girl  so 
like  the  old  Lloyd  in  some  ways,  yet  so  bewilder- 
ingly  unlike  in  others,  stirred  him  strangely. 

"  Better  throw  off  your  furs  and  that  heavy 
jacket  in  this  over-heated  car/'  was  his  only  an- 
swer. "  You'll  take  cold  when  you  get  off  if  you 
don't."  She  thanked  him  for  the  suggestion,  and, 
as  he  hung  her  wraps  over  the  back  of  the  seat, 
settled  herself  comfortably  for  the  hour's  ride. 

"  Now  tell  me  all  about  it,"  he  began  as  the  car 
started.  "  All  that  you've  been  doing  these  last 
months.  Of  course  I've  kept  up  with  you  in  the 
papers.  I  know  that  you  went  here  and  went  there, 
and  that  you  wore  sky-blue  pink  folderols  at  this 
banquet  and  velvet  satin  crepe  de  chine  at  the  Coun- 
try Club  dinner,  with  feathers  and  jewels  to  match, 
but  that's  no  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
knows.  I  want  to  be  let  in  on  the  ground  floor  and 
told  about  the  inner  workings  of  this  social  whirl. 
How  have  you  managed  to  do  it  all  ?    To  vibrate  be- 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  247 

tween  town  and  country  and  not  peg  out.  You  look 
as  fresh  as  a  daisy;  as  if  the  pace  that  kills  agrees 
with  you." 

"  I  haven't  vibrated  much,"  she  answered.  "  I've 
made  Aunt  Jane's  house  my  headquartahs,  and 
you  know  what  a  crank  she  is  about  hygiene. 
Every  moment  not  actually  engaged  in  '  whirling ' 
she  had  reduced  to  a  system  of  simple  living. 
What  I  have  suffered  in  the  way  of  naps  in  a  dark- 
ened room  when  I  wasn't  sleepy,  and  hot  milk  when 
I  loathed  the  idea  of  swallowing  anything,  and 
gymnastic  exercises  in  the  attic  when  the  weathah 
was  too  bad  for  long  walks,  would  fill  a  volume." 

"  Is  the  game  worth  the  candle?"  he  asked  so- 
berly. 

She  hesitated.  "  Well,  yes.  For  a  season  any- 
how. I  wouldn't  want  to  keep  up  such  a  round 
yeah  aftah  yeah,  but  I  have  had  a  good  time,  and 
I  must  confess  it's  awfully  nice  to  be  really  grown 
up  and  have  everybody  treat  you  with  the  considera- 
tion due  yoah  age." 

They  were  out  in  the  open  country  now.  The 
car  stopped,  and  as  the  door  opened  to  admit  a 
passenger,  the  shrill  voices  of  some  children  skating 
on  an  ice  pond  near  the  road  floated  cheerily  in. 


248    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Lloyd  looked  out  the  window  with  a  smile  at  the 
gay  scene. 

"  I'd  like  to  be  out  there  with  them,"  she  con- 
fessed. "  Look  at  that  little  girl  in  the  red  mittens 
and  Tarn  O'Shanter.  She  skates  exactly  the  way 
Katie  Mallard  used  to.  Oh,  deah,  didn't  we  used 
to  have  fun  with  her  down  on  our  ice  pond  ?  " 

"  Do  you  remember  the  day  Malcolm  broke 
through  when  he  was  trying  to  cake-walk  on  the 
ice  ?  "  asked  Rob  with  a  reminiscent  grin. 

"  He  was  laughing  about  that  only  last  week 
when  he  took  me  to  the  Country  Club  dinnah.  I've 
seen  a  lot  of  Malcolm  this  wintah." 

"  I  thought  he  was  rushing  Molly  Standforth." 

"  Well,  he  is,  pah't  of  the  time,  but  he's  rushed 
me  too,  as  you  call  it,  just  as  much." 

Rob  gave  her  a  keen  glance,  but  she  made  the 
announcement  in  such  a  calm  way  that  he  said  to 
himself  there  couldn't  be  much  in  it  as  far  as  she 
was  concerned,  or  she  wouldn't  have  spoken  of  it 
in  the  way  she  did. 

At  Anchorage  the  boy  and  girl  in  front  left  the 
car,  he  with  such  open  solicitude  for  her  comfort 
as  he  helped  her  off  that  Lloyd's  eyes  met  Rob's 
with  a  twinkle. 

"  Aftah  all,  it's  good  to  be  young  like  that,"  she 


SIX   MONTHS  LATER  249 

said.  "  Don't  you  remembah  Kitty  and  Guy  Ferris 
at  that  age  ?  How  we  used  to  tease  Kitty  for  keep- 
ing a  dead  rose  and  a  valentine  and  a  brass  button 
from  his  military  coat,  tied  up  with  a  blue  ribbon 
in  a  candy  box  ?  " 

"  But  we  boys  had  a  better  time  teasing  Guy 
about  the  lock  of  Kitty's  hair  that  he  carried  around 
in  the  back  of  his  watch.  His  watch  got  out  of 
order,  and  when  the  jeweller  opened  it  and  found 
all  that  hair  in  the  back,  he  didn't  say  a  word,  but 
with  a  most  disgusted  look  tossed  it  into  the  waste- 
basket  as  if  it  hadn't  been  Guy's  most  sacred  pos- 
session. I  was  along  with  him,  and  I  simply  roared. 
Guy  didn't  have  the  nerve  to  ask  for  it,  just  stood 
there  looking  like  the  big  silly  he  must  have 
felt." 

The  series  of  reminiscences  that  this  story  started 
lasted  all  the  way  out  to  the  Valley.  The  red  streak 
of  the  wintry  sunset  had  faded  out  of  the  west  when 
the  car  stopped  there,  and  Lloyd  looking  out  into 
the  cold  gray  gloaming  saw  that  the  snow  was 
beginning  to  fall  again. 

"  Let's  get  out  and  walk  the  rest  of  the  way," 
she  exclaimed  impetuously,  snatching  up  her  jacket 
and  furs  as  she  rose. 

"  I  haven't  had  a  twilight  walk  in  the  country  this 


250    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

wintah,  when  it's  all  good  and  gray  like  this,  with 
snow-flakes  in  yoah  face." 

They  were  off  in  another  instant,  and  as  he  stood 
on  the  station  platform  helping  her  on  with  her 
wraps,  she  held  up  her  face  to  feel  the  stray  flakes 
blowing  cold  and  soft  against  it.  He  smiled  at 
her  childish  delight  in  them,  and  seeing  the  smile 
she  started  up  the  narrow  path  ahead  of  him, 
laughing  over  her  shoulder. 

"  There's  no  use  denying  it,"  she  called  back. 
"  When  I  want  to  be  the  propah  dignified  young 
lady  I'll  have  to  stay  in  town.  Just  the  smell  of  the 
country,  the  fresh  earth,  the  fallen  leaves,  has  such 
a  rejuvenating  effect  that  I  want  to  tuck  up  my 
skirts  and  skip  and  run  as  I  used  to." 

"  Come  on,"  he  exclaimed  gaily,  falling  in  with 
her  mood.  "  I'll  race  you  to  that  dead  sycamore 
up  the  road." 

She  looked  up  at  him,  her  face  dimpling  as  she 
noticed  how  he  towered  above  her  and  how  broad 
were  the  shoulders  in  the  big  overcoat.  Then  she 
shook  her  head  sadly. 

"  Nevah  again,  Bobby !  We're  too  old  and  dig- 
nified. I'd  almost  as  soon  think  of  racing  with 
the  Judge  as  with  you  now.  What  if  somebody 
should    see    us?     They'd    be    shocked    to    death. 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  25 1 

There's  some  one  now,"  she  added,  peering  forward 
through  the  dusk. 

"  Only  old  Unc'  Andy  coming  back  from  his 
rabbit  traps,"  answered  Rob,  as  the  grizzled  old 
coloured  man  shuffled  nearer.  Uncle  Andy  had 
been  the  gardener  at  Oaklea  more  years  than  Lloyd 
could  remember,  and  now  as  he  stepped  out  of  the 
path  with  elaborate  courtesy  to  let  her  pass,  she 
delighted  his  soul  by  stopping  with  a  friendly  in- 
quiry about  himself  and  family. 

"  Lawd,  if  it  aint  the  Little  Cun'l  herself !  "  he 
chuckled.  • "  All  growed  up  and  a  bloomin'  like  a 
piney!  I  reckon,  Miss  Lloyd,  youse  forgot  the 
time  that  you  pulled  up  all  the  pansies  in  my  flowah 
beds  'cause  you  said  they  was  makin'  faces  at  you." 

"  No,  indeed,  Uncle  Andy,"  she  answered  with 
a  laugh,  and  started  to  pass  on.  But  the  encounter 
with  the  old  servant  seemed  somehow  to  set  her 
back  among  the  days  when  she  had  been  almost 
as  much  at  home  at  Oaklea  as  she  was  at  The  Lo- 
custs, and  prompted  by  some  sudden  impulse  she 
called  over  her  shoulder  as  she  had  often  called 
then:  "Unc'  Andy,  tell  Mrs.  Moore  that  Mistah 
Rob  won't  be  home  for  dinnah.  He's  going  to 
stay  at  The  Locusts." 

It  was  a  familiar  message  although  it  had  been 


252    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

several  years  since  Andy  had  heard  it.  He  looked 
back  bowing  and  scraping,  and  then  walked  on 
chuckling  to  himself. 

Taken  by  surprise,  Rob  did  not  remonstrate 
when  she  thus  took  his  consent  for  granted.  If 
she  had  waited  to  ask  his  permission  to  send  such 
a  message  home  he  would  have  made  some  excuse 
to  decline,  and  then  left  her  at  the  gate.  That  night 
under  the  measuring  tree  when  he  listened  to  her 
singing  he  had  resolutely  made  up  his  mind  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  temptation.  Since  then  he  had 
become  convinced  that  she  was  engaged  to  Leland 
Harcourt  and  had  put  her  out  of  his  dreams  as  far 
as  possible.  Now  that  she  had  left  him  no  choice, 
he  gladly  accepted  the  opportunity  that  fate  seemed 
to  throw  in  his  way,  and  gave  himself  up  to  the 
enjoyment  of  it. 

The  fitful  snow  had  stopped  falling  again  by  the 
time  they  reached  the  gate,  and  the  stars  were  be- 
ginning to  glimmer  through  the  bare  branches  of 
the  locust-trees.  As  Lloyd  looked  up  the  avenue, 
and  saw  the  lights  from  many  windows  streaming 
out  across  the  white-pillared  porch  into  the  win- 
ter night,  her  gay  mood  suddenly  changed  to  one 
of  intense  feeling. 

"  Isn't  it  deah  ?  "  she  said  in  a  low  voice.     "  I 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  253 

nevah  had  it  come  ovah  me  so  overwhelmingly, 
how  good  it  is  to  come  back  to  the  things  that  nevah 
change  —  that  nevah  fail !  The  home-lights  and 
the  home-loves,  the  same  old  trees  and  the  same 
old  sta'hs  and  the  same  old  chum !  " 

Rob  made  no  answer,  but  his  silence  was  only 
another  proof  to  Lloyd  that  she  had  found  her  old 
chum  unchanged.  He  never  answered  at  the  times 
when  she  knew  he  felt  most  deeply.  Rob's  silences 
expressed  more  sometimes  than  other  people's 
speeches. 

He  was  talkative  enough  at  dinner,  however,  and 
between  them  he  and  Lloyd  made  the  meal  such 
a  lively  one  that  the  old  Colonel  heaved  a  sigh  when 
it  was  over. 

"  I'd  give  a  good  deal  if  our  whist  club  didn't 
meet  to-night,"  he  said  in  response  to  Lloyd's  ques- 
tion. "  I  surely  would  have  asked  them  to  post- 
pone it  if  I  had  known  you  were  coming  out  to- 
night." 

"  Suahly  not  a  time-honahed  institution  like 
that !  "  exclaimed  Lloyd  teasingly,  "  and  when  it's 
yoah  turn  to  entahtain  it.  Rob,  we  haven't  found 
out  what  refreshments  mothah'  has  for  them. 
Think  of  wasting  all  this  time  without  knowing." 

It  had   always  been   a   matter   of   interest   with 


254    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  J&DlNG 

them  in  earlier  times  to  have  a  finger  in  this  par- 
ticular pie.  It  was  one  thing  in  which  Mrs.  Sher- 
man was  most  careful  to  humour  her  father's 
whims,  and  she  always  pleased  him  by  giving  her 
personal  attention  to  the  dainty  little  suppers  which 
she  served  after  the  game. 

Lloyd  led  the  way  to  the  pantry  and  they  lifted 
covers  and  opened  doors,  smelling  and  peering 
around  till  they  unearthed  all  the  tempting  dishes 
that  had  been  so  carefully  prepared  for  the  occa- 
sion. 

"  We'll  be  in  at  the  end,"  warned  Lloyd  as  the 
Colonel's  old  cronies  began  to  arrive,  "  and  in  the 
meantime  I'll  pop  some  cawn.  I  used  to  think  that 
old  Majah  Timberly  came  for  my  cawn  as  much 
as  he  did  for  the  game." 

To  his  great  annoyance  a  telephone  message 
called  Mr.  Sherman  over  to  the  Confederate  Home. 
He  had  looked  forward  to  a  quiet  evening  in  front 
of  the  great  log  fire,  and  was  loath  to  leave  the 
cosy  room  and  cheerful  company.  Presently  some 
household  matters,  claimed  Mrs.  Sherman's  pres- 
ence up-stairs,  and  she  too  had  to  go>,  leaving  Lloyd 
at  the  piano,  playing  runs  and  trills  and  snatches  of 
songs  as  a  sort  of  undercurrent  to  their  conversation. 
Rob  in  a  big  armchair  in  front  of  the  fire,  looking 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  255 

comfortable  enough  to  want  to  purr,  glanced  around 
the  familiar  old  room  that  long  association  had 
made  as  dear  to  him  as  home. 

"  Why  don't  you  read  your  letters  ?  "  he  asked, 
his  gaze  happening  to  rest  on  a  pile  of  various  sized 
envelopes  lying  on  the  table  near  him,  all  bearing 
Lloyd's  name. 

She  turned  around  on  the  piano  stool  and  held 
out  her  hand  for  them  as  he  rose  to  take  them  to 
her. 

"  I  forgot  all  about  the  possibility  of  there  being 
any  mail  for  me,"  she  said,  tearing  open  the  first 
one.  "  This  is  from  Betty.  I  know  you  want  to 
hear  that,  so  I'll  read  it  aloud." 

Crossing  the  room  she  seated  herself  under  one 
of  the  silver  sconces  in  the  chimney  corner,  so  that 
the  candlelight  fell  on  the  paper.  She  had  never 
relinquished  the  idea  that  came  to  her  on  her  return 
from  school  that  Rob  was  growing  especially  fond 
of  Betty.  It  seemed  to  her  such  a  desirable  state 
of  affairs  that  she  longed  to  deepen  his  interest  in 
her. 

"  I  am  not  being  carried  to  the  skies  on  flowery 
beds  of  ease,  by  any  manner  of  means,"  wrote 
Betty.  "Life  at  Warwick  Hall  as  a  pupil  is  one 
thing.    It  is  quite  another  to  be  a  teacher.    But  I'm 


256    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

gaining  experience  and  that's  what  I  came  for,  and 
best  of  all  I'm  having  some  little  successes  that 
make  me  take  heart  and  feel  like  attempting  more. 
I  have  had  two  little  sketches  of  school-girl  life 
accepted  and  paid  for  (mark  the  paid  for)  by  the 
Youth's  Companion,  and  a  request  for  more. 
'  True  hope  is  swift  and  flies  with  swallows'  wings. 
Kings  it  makes  gods,,  and  meaner  creatures  kings." 
You  can  imagine  how  happy  I  am  over  it,  and  what 
castles  in  the  air  I  am  already  building  again." 

It  was  a  long  newsy  letter,  telling  of  a  reception 
she  had  attended  at  the  White  House,  to  which 
she  took  half  a  dozen  girls  in  Madam  Chartley's 
place,  and  describing  a  famous  lecturer  who  had 
been  at  the  Hall  the  day  before. 

"  Betty's  a  girl  in  a  thousand !  "  said  Rob  ap- 
provingly as  she  slipped  the  letter  back  in  its  en- 
velope "  She's  a  dear  little  piece,  with  sense  and 
pluck  enough  for  a  dozen." 

His  hearty  tone  confirmed  Lloyd's  suspicions, 
and  she  looked  as  pleased  as  if  he  had  paid  her  a 
compliment  instead  of  Betty.  She  led  him  on  to 
express  a  still  deeper  appreciation,  by  telling  of 
some  of  the  things  that  Elise  Walton  had  written 
home  about  Betty's  kindness  to  the  new  girls  and 


SIX   MONTHS  LATER  25) 

how  they  all  adored  her.  Then  she  opened  the  next 
letter. 

"  From  Phil  Tremont,"  she  said,  glancing  down 
the  page.  "  He's  back  in  New  York  and  has  just 
seen  Eugenia,  who  is  still  delighted  with  house- 
keeping, and  makes  an  ideal  home  for  Stewart  and 
the  doctor.  And  he's  seen  Joyce,"  she  added,  turn- 
ing the  page,  "  and  Joyce  is  as  happy  as  a  clam, 
struggling  along  with  a  lot  of  art-students  in  a  flat, 
and  really  doing  well  with  her  book-cover  designs 
and  illustrations." 

She  read  a  paragraph  aloud  here  and  there,  then 
hastily  looked  over  the  last  part  in  silence,  laying 
it  down  with  a  little  sigh.  Rob  glanced  up  inquir- 
ingly. "  I  wish  he  wouldn't  make  such  a  to-do 
about  my  writing  moah  regularly.  It  makes  a 
task  of  a  correspondence  instead  of  a  pleasuah,  to 
know  that  every  two  weeks,  rain  or  shine,  I'm  ex- 
pected to  send  an  answah.  I  like  to  write  if  I  can 
choose  my  own  time,  and  wait  till  the  spirit  moves 
me,  but  I  despise  to  be  nagged  into  doing  it." 

"  You  write  to  Betty  every  week,"  he  suggested. 

"  Yes,  sometimes  twice  or  three  times.  But  that's 
different.  I  haven't  seen  Phil  for  two  yeahs  and 
when  you  don't  see  people  for  a  long  time  you 
can't  keep  in  touch  with  them." 


258    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  The  song  says,  '  Absence  makes  the  heart  grow 
fonder,'  "  quoted  Rob  mischievously. 

"  Maybe  it  does  if  you're  old  friends,  and  have 
lots  to  remembah  togethah,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
absence  builds  up  a  sawt  of  wall  between  people 
sometimes,  especially  if  you've  known  each  othah 
only  a  little  while,  and  at  a  time  when  you're  both 
growing  up  and  changing  all  the  time.  Do  you 
know,"  she  added  musingly,  dropping  the  letter 
into  her  lap  and  leaning  forward  to  gaze  into  the 
fire,  "  I  believe  if  Phil  and  I  had  been  togethah 
daily  I'd  have  grown  awfully  fond  of  him.  When 
we  were  out  on  the  desert  in  Arizona,  I  was  only 
fou'teen  that  spring,  he  was  my  ideal  of  all  that  was 
lovely  and  romantic,  and  I  believe  if  it  hadn't  been 
for  those  talks  Papa  Jack  and  I  used  to  have  about 
Hildegarde  and  her  weaving,  I'd  have  done  like 
foolish  Hertha,  cut  my  web  for  him  then  and  there. 
I  did  imagine  for  awhile  that  he  was  a  prince,  and 
the  one  written  for  me  in  the  sta'hs." 

"And  now?"  asked  Rob,  in  a  low  tone,  as  if 
afraid  of  interrupting  the  confession  she  was  mak- 
ing more  to  the  fire  and  herself  than  to  him. 

"  Now,"  she  answered,  "  when  he  came  back 
to  be  best  man  at  Eugenia's  wedding  I  still  liked 
htm  awfully  well,  but  I  could  see  that  my  ideals 


SIX   MONTHS  LATER  259 

had  changed  and  that  they  didn't  fit  him  any  moah 
'  as  the  falcon's  feathahs  fit  the  falcon.'  Still  I 
don't  know,  maybe  if  we  had  been  thrown  togethah 
a  great  deal  from  the  time  I  first  met  him,  it  might 
have  been  different,  but  as  I  say,  absence  made  a 
sawt  of  wall  between  us  and  we  seem  to  be  growing 
farthah  and  farthah  apart." 

"  And  now  you're  sure  he's,  not  the  one  the  stars 
have  destined  for  you  ?  " 

"  Perfectly  suah,"  she  answered  with  a  laugh, 
then  leaning  back  in  the  chimney  corner  again, 
opened  the  third  letter.  The  envelope  slipped  to 
the  floor  as  she  read,  and  stooping  over  to  return 
it,  he  saw  quite  unintentionally  that  it  bore  a  South 
American  stamp.  She  was  reading  so  intently 
that  she  did  not  notice  when  he  laid  it  in  her  lap, 
but  as  soon  as  she  finished  she  tossed  it  into  the 
fire  without  a  word.  Her  face  flushed  and  her 
eyes  had  an  angry  light  in  them.  As  she  caught 
his  grave  look,  she  shrugged  her  shoulders  with  a 
careless  little  laugh,  to  hide  the  awkward  pause, 
and  then  said  lightly : 

"  I  think  Mammy  Eastah's  fortune  will  come 
true.     There  won't  be  any  prince  in  my  tea-cup." 

"Why?" 


260    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Wait  till  I  get  the  cawn-poppah  and  I'll  tel! 
you." 

She  was  back  in  a  moment  with  the  popper  and 
several  ears  of  corn  which  she  divided  with  Rob, 
and  started  to  shell  into  the  big  dish  which  she 
placed  on  the  floor  between  them.  She  shelled  in 
silence  a  moment  or  two. 

"  It's  this  wintah  in  society  that's  given  me  that 
opinion,"  she  said  finally.  "  The  view  I've  had 
of  it  through  my  Hildegarde  mirror.  The  knights 
have  come  riding,  lots  of  them,  and  maybe  among 
them  I  might  have  found  my  prince  in  disguise,  but 
the  shadows  of  the  world  blurred  everything.  Out 
heah  in  the  country  I'd  grown  up  believing  that  it's 
a  kind,  honest  old  world.  I'd  seen  only  its  good 
side.  I  took  my  conception  of  married  life  from 
mothah  and  Papa  Jack,  Doctah  Shelby  and  Aunt 
Alicia,  and  yoah  fathah  and  mothah.  They  made 
me  think  that  marriage  is  a  great  strong  sanctuary, 
built  on  a  rock  that  no  storm  can  hurt  and  no 
trouble  move.  But  this  wintah  I  found  that  that 
kind  of  marriage  has  grown  out  of  fashion.  It's 
something  to  jest  about,  and  it's  a  mattah  of  scan- 
dal and  divorce  and  unhappiness.  Sometimes  it 
made  me  heart-sick,  the  tales  I  heard  and  the  things 


"SHE    POURED   THE    CORN    INTO    THE   POPPER    AND    BEGAN    TO 
SHAKE     IT    OVER    THE    RED   COALS." 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  26 1 

I  saw.  I  came  to  little  Mary  Ware's  conclusion, 
that  it's  safah  to  be  an  old  maid." 

Drawing  a  low  stool  nearer  the  fire,  she  poured 
the  corn  into  the  popper  and  began  to  shake  it  over 
the  red  coals. 

"  It's  dreadful  to  be  disillusioned,"  said  Rob, 
smiling  at  her  serious  face.  "  That's  one  reason 
why  I  keep  so  '  far  from  the  madding  crowd.'  My 
old  friends  have  been  good  about  remembering  me 
with  invitations  and  I've  been  sorely  tempted  to 
accept  some  of  them  just  to  see  what  kind  of  a 
show  was  going  on.  But  I  couldn't  accept  one  and 
refuse  another  and  I  couldn't  afford  to  go  in  whole- 
sale; carriages  and  flowers  and  the  bummed  up 
feeling  that  .follows  make  it  too  expensive  for  a 
poor  man  like  me.  It's  nearly  over  now,  I  suppose, 
anyway." 

"  Yes,  the  fancy  dress  ball  on  Valentine's  night 
will  be  the  last  big  thing  befoah  Lent." 

"  Who  is  to  be  your  escort  ?  " 

"  Mistah  Whitlow,  probably.  He  hasn't  asked 
me  yet,  but  he  saw  Aunt  Jane  this  mawning  and 
told  her  not  to  let  me  make  any  engagement,  for 
he  was  coming  to  ask  me  as  soon  as  I  got  back  to 
town  Monday." 

H  Bartrom  Whitlow !  "  exclaimed  Rob,   shifting 


262    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

his  easy  lounging  position  to  an  upright  one,  and 
looking  very  stern.  "  Lloyd,  you  don't  mean  to 
say  you're  going  with  that  man!  He  isn't  fit  to 
be  invited  to  decent  people's  houses,  much  less  fit 
to  shake  hands  with  their  daughters.  Some  of  the 
others  are  bad  enough,  goodness  knows,  but  he  is 
the  limit.     You*  simply  can't  go  with  him." 

"  Well,  you  needn't  ro'ah  so,"  exclaimed  Lloyd 
with  a  little  pout,  as  if  she  resented  his  dictatorial, 
big-brother  tone.  Secretly  it  pleased  her,  for  it 
had  been  a  long  time  since  she  had  heard  it. 

"  Rather  than  let  you  go  with  him  I'll  accept 
my  invitation  and  take  you  myself !  " 

"  What  a  sweet  martyr-like  spirit ! "  laughed 
Lloyd,  teaslngly.  "  I  certainly  feel  flattered  at  the 
way  you  put  it,  and  I  appreciate  the  great  sacri- 
fice you're  willing  to  make  for  my  sake.  Of  co'se 
I  don't  want  to  go  with  Mistah  Whitlow  if  that's 
the  kind  of  man  he  is,  but  it  seems  rathah  late  in 
the  day  to  raise  a  row.  He's  called  on  me  several 
times  this  wintah  and  sent  me  flowahs  and  danced 
with  me,  just  as  he  does  with  all  the  othah  girls.  I 
know  Aunt  Jane  believes  he  is  all  right,  because  she 
is  very  particulah  about  my  company.  I  can't  see  any 
way  to  get  out  of  going  with  him  as  long  as  she's 
given  him  to  undahstand  that  I  would,  but  for  me 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  263 

to  hold  you  to  yoah  offah  and  make  you  make  a 
martyr  of  yoahself  on  the  altah  of  friendship." 

"  You  know  very  well,  Lloyd  Sherman,  no  fel- 
low would  count  it  martyrdom  to  escort  the  most 
popular  debutante  of  the  season  to  the  last  great 
function." 

She  opened  her  eyes  wide,  astonished  at  such  an 
unusual  thing  as  a  compliment  from  Rob. 

. "  Oh,  I'm  just  quoting,"  he  added  to  tease  her. 
"  That's  what  I  heard  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of 
yours  call  you  on  the  car  this  evening.  But  I'm 
in  dead  earnest,  too.     My  offer  is  a  sincere  one." 

"  Very  well,"  responded  Lloyd  quickly,  "  I'll  hold 
you  to  it.  I  suppose  you've  seriously  considahed  it. 
You'll  have  to  go  in  fancy  costume,  you  know." 

His  face  showed  plainly  that  he  had  not  thought 
how  much  his  offer  involved,  but  after  an  instant's 
hesitation  he  made  a  wry  grimace  and  laughed. 
"  That's  all  right.  I  die  game.  I  haven't  been  to 
anything  for  two  years,  but  I'll  see  you  through 
on  this  deal.  '  I'll  never  desert  Micawber.'  Name 
the  character  I'm  to  represent  and  I'll  get  the  cos- 
tume." 

"  I  think  a  Teddy  beah  would  be  most  in  keeping 
if  you're  going  to  glowah  and  growl  the  way  you 
did  a  moment  ago,  or  anything  fierce  and  furious; 


*S64    KITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Bluebeard  for  instance.  That  would  be  fine,  and  I'll 
carry  a  bloody  key  and  you  can  drag  me  around 
by  the  hair  as  an  object  lesson  to  all  thoughtless 
girls  who  weave  their  mantles  to  fit  unworthy  shoul- 
dahs  instead  of  using  their  yah'd  sticks  to  do  it 
right." 

"  That  old  tale  seems  to  worry  you  a  lot,  Lloyd." 

"  It  does,"  she  confessed.  "  I've  thought  about 
it  every  day  this  wintah.  Now  this  is  all  ready  for 
the  salt  and  buttah,"  she  added  as  the  last  grain 
in  the  wire  cage  burst  into  snowy  bloom.  "  I'll  take 
it  ovah  to  the  old  gentlemen  while  it's  hot.  You 
can  be  popping  the  next  lot  while  I'm  gone." 

Mrs.  Sherman  joined  them  presently,  and  the 
question  of  costumes  was  settled.  "  There's  no 
use  of  yoah  going  to  any  expense  for  one,"  said 
Lloyd,  with  her  usual  delicate  consideration, 
"  There  are  trunkfuls  of  lovely  things  still  in  the 
attic.  Come  ovah  next  week  and  we'll  look  through 
them." 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  old  intimacy  was,  in 
a  measure,  resumed,  for  several  calls  were  necessary 
to  complete  the  arrangements  for  Valentine  night. 
That  those  arrangements  were  highly  satisfactory 
might  have  been  inferred  from  the  account  of  the 
affair  which  appeared  in  the  Society  columns  next 


SIX  MONTHS  LATER  265 

day,  in  which  Miss  Sherman  and  Mr.  Rob  Moore 
were  awarded  the  palm  for  the  most  unique  and 
striking  costumes.  They  had  gone  as  Bluebeard 
and  his  beautiful  Fatima.  It  was  the  crowning 
good  time  of  the  season,  Lloyd  declared,  for  Rob 
under  cover  of  his  disguise  entered  into  the  spirit 
of  the  occasion  with  all  his  old  zest,  and  when  Rob 
tried,  nobody  could  be  better  company  than  he. 
After  that  he  fell  into  the  way  of  an  occasional  call 
at  The  Locusts.  He  was  too  busy  to  spare  many 
evenings,  but  when  Lloyd  came  back  to  the  Valley, 
nearly  every  Sunday  afternoon  was  spent  in  their 
old  way,  taking  long  tramps  together  through  the 
quiet  country  lanes  and  winter  woods. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   MIRACLE   OF   BLOSSOMING 

The  beginning-  of  Lent  was  the  end  of  all  the 
social  gaieties  and  most  of  the  girls  who  had  flit- 
tered through  the  season  with  Lloyd  fluttered  away 
like  a  bevy  of  scattered  butterflies  to  various  resorts 
on  the  Florida  coast.  Kitty  departed  to  make  her 
long-talked-of  visit  to  Gay  in  San  Antonio,  Katie 
Mallard  went  with  an  invalid  aunt  to  Biloxi,  and 
Lloyd  came  back  to  the  country.  She  was  almost 
as  much  alone  as  she  had  been  that  winter  when  she 
had  not  been  allowed  to  return  to  Warwick  Hall 
after  the  Christmas  vacation. 

True,  Allison  was  at  home  after  her  interesting 
trip  abroad,  with  the  Maclntyres,  and  Lloyd  spent 
many  hours  at  The  Beeches.  But  Raleigh  Clai- 
borne's sister  from  Washington  was  there  on  a  visit 
part  of  the  time,  and  Raleigh  himself  made  several 
flying    trips,    and    although    Allison's    engagement 

made  her  doubly  interesting  to  the  younger  girls, 

266 


THE   MIRACLE    OF   BLOSSOMING  267 

it  seemed  to  rise  up  as  a  sort  of  wall  between  them 
and  their  old  intimacy.  She  had  so>  many  new  in- 
terests now  that  she  did  not  enter  quite  so  heartily 
into  the  old  ones. 

So  it  came  about  that  Lloyd  fell  quite  naturally 
into  her  former  habit  of  dropping  in  to  see  Mrs. 
Bisbee  and  Mrs.  Apwell  and  all  the  other  old  ladies, 
who  welcomed  her  with  open  arms.  One  blowy 
afternoon  in  March  she  took  her  embroidery  and 
went  to  sit  with  Mrs.  Bisbee  awhile,  beside  the 
window  that  Mrs.  Walton  had  laughingly  dubbed 
the  "  window  in  Thrums."  The  old  lady,  growing 
chatty  and  confidential  over  her  quilt-piecing,  seemed 
so  unusually  companionable,  that  Lloyd  remarked : 

"  It  really  seems  as  if  I'm  catching  up  to  you  all, 
Mrs.  Bisbee.  As  I  get  oldah  everybody  else  gets 
youngah.  Why,  this  wintah  mothah  has  been  just 
like  a  sistah.  I  had  no  idea  she  could  be  so  much 
fun.  We  do  everything  togethah  now.  I  help  with 
the  housekeeping  so  that  she  can  hurry  through 
with  it  early  in  the  mawning  and  then  we  practise, 
piano  and  harp,  or  she  plays  the  accompaniments 
for  my  songs.  And  then  we  read  French  awhile 
and  we  go  for  long  walks  and  we  discuss  every 
subject  undah  the  sun,  just  as  Betty  and  I  used  to 
do.    And  we  plan  things  to  do  in  the  deliciously 


268    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

long-  cosy  evenings  —  surprises,  you  know,  for 
grand fathah  and  Papa  Jack.  I  believe  I'm  enjoying 
this  pah't  of  my  yeah  bettah  than  the  first." 

Mrs.  Bisbee  looked  out  of  the  window  wistfully 
at  nothing. 

"  That's  the  way  that  it  used  to  be  here  when 
daughter  was  at  home,"  she  sighed.  "  Sometimes  I 
think  if  I'd  had  the  planning  of  the  universe  I'd 
have  fixed  it  differently.  Just  when  your  little  girl 
is  grown  up  to  be  a  comfort  and  a  joy,  and  the  best 
company  in  the  world,  some  man  steps  in  and  takes 
her  away  from  you.  I  had  daughter  to*  myself  only 
one  short  year  after  she  got  through  school.  Then 
she  married.  Of  course  it  would  have  been  selfish 
to  have  stood  in  the  way  of  her  happiness,  yet  —  " 

She  shook  her  head  with  another  sigh,  and  left 
the  sentence  unfinished.  "  I  have  often  wondered 
how  I  could  have  stood  it  if  her  marriage  had  been 
an  unhappy  one,  like  poor  Amy  Cadwell's.  You 
know  her." 

"  Only  slightly,"  answered  Lloyd,  recalling  a  face 
that  always  aroused  her  interest:  a  face  with  thin 
compressed  lips  and  watchful  defiant  eyes,  that 
seemed  to  have  grown  so>  from  the  long  guarding 
of  a  family  skeleton. 

It  was  not  gossip  the  way  Mrs.  Bisbee  told  the 


'THE   MIRACLE    OF  BLOSSOMING  269 

story,  only  the  plain  recital  of  a  sad  bit  of  human 
history  that  had  fallen  under  her  observation.  The 
cloud  of  it  rested  on  Lloyd's  face  as  she  listened. 

"  That's  the  worst  thing  about  growing  up,"  she 
exclaimed  bitterly  when  Mrs.  Bisbee  paused,  "  the 
finding  out  that  everybody  isn't  good  and  happy  as 
I  used  to  think  they  were.  Lately,  just  these  last 
few  months  that  I've  been  out  in  society  I've  heard 
so  much  of  people's  jealousies  and  rivalries  and 
meannesses  and  insincerity,  that  I'd  sometimes  be 
tempted  to  doubt  everybody,  if  it  were  not  for  my 
own  family  and  some  of  the  people  out  in  this 
little  old  Valley  that  I've  trusted  all  my  life. 

"  There's  Minnie  Wayland,  whose  engagement 
was  announced  last  month  to  Mistah  Maybrick.  I 
don't  see  how  she  dares  marry  when  her  own  fathah 
and  mothah  made  such  a  failure  of  it,  that  they  can't 
live  togethah,  and  Mistah  Maybrick's  wife  got  a 
divorce  from  him  on  account  of  some  dreadful  scan- 
dal the  papahs  were  full  of.  I  couldn't  go  up  and 
wish  her  joy  when  the  othah  girls  did.  She  talked 
about  it  in  such  a  flippant  mattah  of  business  way, 
as  if  millions  atoned  for  everything.  One  of  the  girls 
laughed  at  me  for  taking  it  so  seriously,  and  said 
that  matches  aren't  made  in  heaven  nowadays,  and 
that  I'd  have  to  get  ovah  my  old-fashioned  Pnri- 


270    LITTLE   COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

tanical  notions  and  ideals  if  I  expected  to  keep  up 
with  the  sma'ht  set.  I  thought  for  awhile  that 
maybe  it  was  only  the  sma'ht  set  who  are  that  way, 
but  what  you've  just  told  me  about  Mrs.  Cad  well, 
and  what  I've  heard  lately  about  several  families 
right  in  our  own  little  neighbahhood,  shows  that 
it's  all  a  bad  old  world,  and  these  yeahs  I've  been 
thinking  it  so  good  I've  been  blind  and  ignorant.  I 
suppose  it's  for  the  best,  but  I'm  sorry  sometimes 
that  my  eyes  have  been  opened." 

Mrs.  Bisbee  sighed  again  at  her  vehemence,  and 
then  quite  unexpectedly  piped  up  in  a  thin  tremulous 
voice,  with  one  of  the  songs  O'f  her  youth.  In  a 
high  minor  key  and  full  of  quavers,  it  was  so  ridic- 
ulous that  they  both  laughed. 

«*  •  I  sat  beneath  a  hollow  tree, 
The  blast  it  hollow  blew. 
I  thought  upon  the  hollow  world, 
And  all  its  hollow  crew. 
Ambition  and  its  hollow  schemes, 
The  hollow  hopes  we  follow, 
The  world  and  all  its  hollow  dreams  — 
All  hollow,  hollow,  hollow ! ' " 

"  That's  the  way  it  seems  to  you  now,"  she  said. 
"  It's  the  reaction.  But  you  mustn't  let  it  make  you 
pessimistic.  When  you  get  to  feeling  like  that  you'll 
have  to  do  like  old  Abraham  did,  quit  looking  at  all 


THE  MIRACLE   OF  BLOSSOMING  27 1 

the  sinners  in  Sodom,  and  hunt  around  for  the  ten 
good  men." 

A  whole  row  of  Sunday-school  lessons  rose  up  in 
Mrs.  Bisbee's  mind.  She  had  taught  a  class  for 
thirty  years  in  the  vine-covered  stone  church  whose 
spire  she  could  see  from  her  window,  and  Lloyd  was 
used  to  her  startling  and  unexpected  application  of 
Scripture  texts. 

"  Or  better  still,"  she  continued,  "  turn  your  back 
on  entire  Sodom,  and  look  away  to  the  plains  where 
the  faithful  pitched  their  tents.  The  world  is  full 
of  that  kind  of  people  to-day  as  it  was  then,  the 
faithful  who  never  join  themselves  to  the  idols  of 
the  heathen,  but  who  tend  their  flocks  and  live  good 
peaceful  lives,  and  in  all  their  journeyings,  wherever 
they  go,  raise  an  altar  to  the  Lord. 

"  It's  the  marriages  that  are  founded  on  that  rock 
that  never  fall,"  she  added  reverently,  her  mind 
skipping  from  the  tent-dwellers  of  Genesis  to  the 
wise  builder  in  the  parables  with  the  ease  of  long 
practice.  "  '  And  the  rain  descended,  and  the  Hoods 
came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house; 
and  it  fell  not;   for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock/" 

"  Sometimes  just  the  wife's  part  is  built  on  it. 
She's  the  only  one  that  raises  the  altar.  Sometimes 
the  man  is  the  one.     Of  course  that's  better  than  all 


272 


LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 


being  on  the  sand,  and  saves  many  a  marriage  £rom 
being  the  wreck  it  would  have  been  if  they'd  left  God 
out  of  it  altogether.  There !  I  never  did  think  it  all 
out  in  words  quite  as  straight  and  clear  and  con- 
vincing to  myself  before.  But  I've  often  had  the 
idea  come  to  me  when  I'd  be  sitting  in  church  look- 
ing at  old  Judge  Moore's  white  head  in  the  front 
pew,  and  thinking  of  the  trouble  he'd  had- — the 
sorrow  and  accidents  and  misfortune  that  have  beat 
on  his  house  —  and  his  faith  standing  up  bigger 
and  stronger  than  ever.  Even  his  wife's  death 
couldn't  shake  it." 

Here  she  paused  to  lean  nearer  the  window  and 
nod  and  smile  at  some  one  driving  past  the  house. 

"  It's  Agnes  Waring,"  she  explained,  as  Lloyd 
looked  up  too  late.  "  Or  Agnes  Bond,  I  should  say. 
I  never  can  remember  to  call  her  that,  although  she's 
been  married  over  two  years.  Now  there's  a  happy 
marriage  if  ever  there  was  one.  The  good  old- 
fashioned  sort  like  the  Judge's,  for  they're  both  of 
the  faithful.  And  do  you  know,  my  dear,"  she  con- 
tinued lightly,  "  I  shall  always  hold  you  responsible 
for  that.  It  was  your  making  such  a  picture  out 
of  Agnes  at  that  Martha  Washington  affair  that 
brought  her  out  of  her  shell  and  gave  John  Bond  a 
chance  to  discover  her.     Miss  Sarah  thinks  so  too. 


THE  MIRACLE   OF  BLOSSOMING  273 

By  the  way,  she  was  here  yesterday,  and  she  told 
me  that  she  has  about  consented  to  break  up  house- 
keeping and  go  to  live  with  Agnes.  It's  so  lonely 
for  her  since  poor  Miss  Marietta  died." 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  said  Lloyd  softly,  thinking  of  the 
happy  release  that  had  come  to  Miss  Marietta  only 
the  week  before. 

"  Now,  there  was  another  case,"  resumed  Mrs. 
Bisbee.  "  Nobody  who  saw  her  lying  there  in  that 
beautiful  dress  that  was  to  have  been  her  wedding 
gown,  and  with  that  wonderful  smile  lighting  up  her 
face,  could  doubt  what  sort  of  a  foundation  she  and 
Murray  Cathright  built  on.  That  was  a  love  that 
outlasted  time  and  reached  past  even  death  into 
eternity  itself.  So  don't  you  go  to  doubting  that 
it  doesn't  exist  any  more,  my  dear." 

Lloyd  made  one  more  call  on  the  way  home,  stop- 
ping in  at  the  Apwalls'  with  a  magazine  which  Mrs. 
Bisbee  had  asked  her  to  leave.  Oddly  enough  the 
conversation  turned  to  the  same  subject  that  she  and 
Mrs.  Bisbee  had  been  discussing,  but  she  went  away 
in  a  very  different  mood  from  the  one  in  which  she 
left  the  first  place.  Old  Mr.  Apwall  irritated  her. 
He  was  in  one  of  his  sprightly  facetious  humours. 
when  he  delighted  in  making  personal  remarks  in  a 
teasing  way. 


274    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

"  Well,  my  little  lady,"  he  began.  "  I  hear  you've 
had  a  whole  string  of  admirers  dangling  in  your 
wake  this  last  year.  Oh,  you  needn't  deny  it !  " 
he  added,  shaking  a  finger  at  her  in  a  way  he  con- 
sidered playful.  "  We've  heard  the  gossip  about 
that  young  Texas  fellow  and  that  man  from  the 
North  who  nearly  wore  out  his  private  car  coming 
down  to  see  you  every  whip-stitch  and  that  old  duck 
from  Cincinnati  that  you  refused.  Refused  them 
all!  Oh,  yes,  you  did,  though.  We  heard  about 
it.  But  you  must  remember  the  story  of  the  lass 
who  went  through  the  forest  looking  for  a  straight 
stick.  She  kept  throwing  them  away  and  throwing 
them  away,  getting  harder  to  please  at  every  step, 
until  she'd  gone  through  the  whole  forest,  and  had 
to  pick  up  a  crooked  one  at  the  last." 

He  laughed  childishly  at  his  own  tale.  "  Look 
out  that  you  don't  get  a  crooked  stick !  " 

Mrs.  Apwall  broke  in  sourly.  "  That's  about  all 
there  is  left  lying  around  to  choose  from  these  days, 
to  my  notion.  But  land  sakes,  Alexander,  quit  teas- 
ing the  child.  You  talk  as  if  all  her  chances  are 
gone  by  and  that  she's  doomed  to  be  an  old  maid. 
The  happiest  lot  of  all,  /  say,  for  there's  no  man 
living  but  has  some  crook  in  him,,  and  most  of  'em 


THE   MIRACLE    OF   BLOSSOMING  2?$ 

are  all  crookedness."  She  darted  a  warlike  glance 
in  his  direction. 

Lloyd  left  as  soon  as  she  could  get  away  politely, 
wondering  how  they  had  heard  so  much  of  her 
affairs.  She  had  refused  both  proposals,  but  she 
didn't  know  that  any  one  outside  the  family  knew 
anything  about  it.  She  wondered  now  if  she  had 
been  over  particular,  for  the  crook  that  Mrs.  Apwall 
insisted  was  in  every  man  was  only  a  slight  one  in 
the  case  of  the  owner  of  the  private  car,  principally 
a  matter  of  little  refinements  of  speech  and  appear- 
ance which  one  had  a  right  to  expect  of  a  man  in 
his  position  and  whose  lack  argued  to  a  dainty  girl 
like  Lloyd  some  corresponding  coarseness  of  nature. 
She  had  seen  the  other  man  slightly  intoxicated  one 
night  at  a  theatre  party,  and  could  never  quite  for- 
get the  maudlin  smile  with  which  he  poured  out  com- 
plimentary speeches  by  the  wholesale. 

The  conversation  at  the  Apwalls'  brought  back 
two  very  disagreeable  occasions  that  she  did  not  care 
to  remember,  and  she  made  up  her  mind  as  she 
walked  rapidly  along  towards  home  that  it  would  be 
many  a  day  before  she  went  back  there.  They 
always  gave  her  a  gloomy  impression  of  life. 

The  roads  were  so  muddy  that  she  had  to  take 
to  the  railroad  track,  stepping  from  one  cross-tie  to 


276    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

another  to  avoid  the  sharp  cinders  between.  Pres- 
ently she  found  herself  walking  along-  the  rail  as  she 
and  Betty  used  to  do  on  the  way  to  school,  balancing 
themselves  with  outstretched  arms  and  counting  how 
many  steps  they  could  take  without  slipping  off. 
That  was  the  way  she  and  Rob  had  taken  their  walk 
the  week  before.  It  had  been  too  muddy  to  go  any- 
where save  along  the  track  and  they  had  walked  the 
cross-ties  for  two  miles  in  the  face  of  a  keen  March 
wind.  It  was  soft  and  balmy  to-day,  fluttering  her 
hair  and  skirts  in  a  playful  way  wholly  unlike  the 
boisterous  flapping  with  which  it  had  ushered  in  the 
month.  . 

As  she  went  along  she  peered  into  fence  corners 
and  up  at  the  budding  branches,  happy  over  every 
sign  of  spring.  .  If  the  roads  were  dry  enough  by 
the  end  of  the  week  she  and  Rob  intended  to  take 
a  long  tramp  through  Tanglewood  in  search  of 
wild  flowers.  Anemones,  harebells  and  spiderwort, 
foxgloves  and  dog-tooth  violets,  she  knew  them  all, 
and  the  haunts  where  they  came  the  earliest.  She 
rarely  gathered  them,  but  went  from  one  hiding- 
place  to  another  for  a  glimpse  of  their  shy  faces, 
welcoming  them  as  she  would  o>ld  friends.  Lloyd 
loved  the  woods  like  an  Indian,  and  one  of  the  most 
satisfactory  things  about  Rob's  companionship  was 


THE   MIRACLE    OF   BLOSSOMING  277 

that  he  enjoyed  them  in  the  same  way.  Often  they 
tramped  along",  scarcely  saying  a  word  a  mile,  find- 
ing the  vibrant  silences  of  the  wood  better  than 
speech,  and  their  mutual  pleasure  in  them  sufficient. 
After  the  winter  in  town,  which  had  been  an  un- 
usually cold  and  severe  one,  Lloyd  longed  for  the 
beginning  of  spring,  and  from  the  call  of  the  first 
robin  and  the  budding  of  the  first  pussy-willow, 
spent  as  much  time  as  possible  out  of  doors. 

April  came  in  with  a  week  of  sunny  days  which 
hurried  everything  into  luxuriant  leafage  and  bud. 
When  Rob  came  over  one  warm  day  for  his  usual 
Sunday  afternoon  walk,  the  whole  world  seemed 
so  near  the  verge  of  bursting  into  full  bloom  that 
the  very  air  was  aquiver  with  its  half- whispered 
secrets.  Faint  delicious  odours  stole  up  from  the 
moist  earth  and  the  green  growing  things  that 
crowded  up  out  of  it.  Even  the  old  locusts,  con- 
scious of  a  hidden  wealth  of  sweetness  which  was 
soon  to  make  a  glory  of  their  gnarled  branches, 
nodded  in  sympathy  with  all  that  was  young  and 
riotous. 

There  were  so  many  things  to  discover  near  at 
hand  that  Lloyd  and  Rob  sauntered  about  the  place 
first,  before  starting  farther  afield.  There  were 
spring   beauties   covering  the   little  knolls   in    the 


278    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

pasture,  like  a  fall  of  rosy  snow.  There  were 
violets  down  by  the  ice-house,  and  early  columbines 
starting  out  from  the  crevices  of  the  rockery,  hold- 
ing- up  slender  stems,  whereon  by.  and  bye  their 
airy  blossoms  would  poise  like  a  flock  of  light- 
winged  butterflies.  Lloyd,  happy  over  every  tiny 
frond  she  found  unfolding  itself  in  tlv;  fern  bed,  and 
every  yellow  dandelion  that  added  its  mite  of  gold 
to  the  young  year's  coffers,  was  so  absorbed  in  her 
quest  that  she  did  not  notice  any  difference  in  Rob's 
manner. 

He  walked  along  beside  her,  saying  little,  but  with 
the  same  air  of  repressed  eagerness  that  the  whole 
April  day  seemed  to  share,  as  if  like  the  locusts,  he 
too  was  conscious  of  some  inner  wealth  of  bloom, 
some  secret  happiness  wThose  time  for  sharing  with 
the  spring  had  not  yet  come.  Once  when  he  an- 
swered her  enthusiastic  discovery  of  a  snowdrop 
with  only  an  absent-minded  monosyllable,  she 
glanced  up  at  him  curiously.  There  was  such  a 
light  in  his  eyes  and  such  an  unwonted  tenderness  in 
his  expression  that  she  wondered  what  he  could  be 
thinking  about. 

Across  the  pasture  they  went,  down  through  the 
orchard  where  the  peach-trees  were  turning  pink 
and  the  clusters  of  tiny  white  plum  buds  were  al- 


THE   MIRACLE   OF  BLOSSOMING  279 

ready  calling  the  bees,  and  around  again  to  the 
beech-grove  at  the  back  of  the  house.  It  was  a 
sweet  flower-starred  way,  and  Lloyd,  bubbling  over 
with  the  spirit  of  the  hour,  began  to  hum  a  happy 
little  tune.  Suddenly  she  stopped  short  in  the  path, 
turning  her  head  slightly  with  the  alert  motion  of  a 
young  fawn. 

"What  is  it  that  smells  so  delicious?"  she  de- 
manded. "  It's  almost  heavenly,  it's  so  sweet." 
Then  after  another  long  indrawn  breath,  "  I'd 
think  it  was  lilies-of-the-valley  if  it  were  any  place 
but  out  heah  on  the  edge  of  the  wood-lot.  They 
couldn't  be  way  out  heah.  It  must  be  some  rare 
kind  of  wild  flowah  we've  nevah  discovered." 

Leaving  the  path,  they  both  began  searching 
through  the  underbrush,  pushing  aside  the  dead 
leaves,  and  stooping  now  and  then  to  examine  some 
plant  that  did  not  seem  entirely  familiar. 

"  I'm  positive  it's  a  white  flowah,"  declared 
Lloyd,  closing  her  eyes  and  drawing  in  another 
breath  of  the  faint,  elusive  fragrance.  "  Only  a 
white  flowah  could  have  such  an  ethereal  odah.  It 
makes  you  think  of  white  things,  doesn't  it?  Snow 
crystals  and  angel  wings !  Oh,  they  are  lilies-01- 
the-valley ! "  she  cried  the  next  instant,  stooping 


280    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

over  a  bed  of  green  from  which  Rob  was  raking 
the  dead  leaves  with  a  stick. 

"  And  don't  you  remembah  now,"  she  cried,  her 
eyes  like  eager  stars  as  she  recalled  the  incident, 
"  we  planted  them  heah  ourselves,  yeahs  ago.  I  re- 
membah digging  up  a  whole  apron ful  of  some 
thrifty  green  things  out  of  the  flowah  bed  undah 
yoah  mothah's  window  and  lugging  them  ovah  home 
all  the  way  from  Oaklea.  You  planted  them  in  this 
place  for  me,  because  we  thought  we'd  build  a  play- 
house heah,  but  aftahwards  we  changed  our  minds 
and  built  it  by  the  grape-vine  swing." 

"  It  seems  to  me  I  do  have  a  faint  recollection  of 
something  of  that  sort,"  Rob  answered.  "  I  know 
I  had  a  row  with  Unc'  Andy  once  for  digging  up 
some  of  his  pet  borders  and  transplanting  them  over 
here,  but  I  didn't  know  they  were  lilies." 

"  I  suppose  we  didn't  know  because  we  nevah 
happened  to  wandah  this  way  aftahward  when  they 
were  in  bloom,"  she  continued,  seating  herself  be- 
side them  and  parting  the  thickest  sheaths  of  green 
to  reveal  the  perfect  white  flowers  hidden  away 
among  them.  Throwing  aside  her  hat,  she  bent 
over  to  thrust  her  face  into  their  midst,  revelling  in 
the  purity  and  exquisite  fragrance. 

"  There's  nothing  like  them !  "  she  exclaimed,  so 


THE   MIRACLE    OF  BLOSSOMING  28 1 

intent  on  the  beauty  of  the  tiny  white  bells  that 
she  did  not  see  the  expression  with  which  Rob  was 
looking  down  on  her.  There  was  a  likeness  be- 
tween the  two,  he  was  thinking,  the  white-gowned 
girl  and  the  white,  white  blossoms.  They  seemed 
spiritually  akin.  She  touched  one  of  the  racemes 
softly. 

"  It's  a  miracle,  isn't  it ! "  she  said  in  a  low,  rev- 
erent tone. 

"  A  miracle  that  anything  so  sweet  and  white  and 
perfect  can  suddenly  come  into  being  like  this.  It 
must  have  made  those  old  lily  bulbs  wondah  at  them- 
selves the  first  time  they  unfolded  and  woke  up  to 
find  that  such  a  heavenly  thing  had  happened  to 
them,  —  their  hearts  filled  with  this  unearthly 
beauty  and  sweetness.  Don't  you  suppose  it  made 
the  whole  world  seem  different,  that  they're  not 
yet  done  wondering  ovah  the  surprise  and  joy  of 
it?" 

She  said  it  with  a  shy  side-glance  as  if  half-afraid 
he  would  laugh  at  such  a  childish  fancy.  Then  she 
looked  up  startled,  at  the  unexpected  intensity  of  his 
answer. 

"  I  know  it  made  the  whole  world  different,"  he 
said  in  such  a  strange  exultant  voice  that  she  hardly 
knew  it  for  Rob's.    Dropping  to  one  knee  beside  her 


282    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

he  singled  out  one  of  the  lilies  just  beginning  to 
burst  from  its  sheath,  and  folded  it  close  shut  again 
in  its  green  leaves. 

"  Look !  "  he  said  in  the  same  exultant  voice. 
"  That's  the  way  I've  been  for  years,  with  something 
hidden  away  in  my  heart,  unrecognized  at  first, 
then  its  sweetness  only  half-guessed  at.  And  I  kept 
it  hid,  and  I  thought  never  to  tell  you.  But  this 
morning  in  church  it  happened  to  me,  this  miracle  of 
blossoming.  I  was  sitting  looking  at  you  as  I've 
done  a  thousand  times  before,  and  all  of  a  sudden 
it  came  over  me,  just  as  sweet  and  unexpected  as  the 
bursting  of  these  lilies,  the  knowledge  that  life  is 
dear  and  the  world  beautiful  because  you  are  in  it. 
I  think  I've  always  held  the  thought  of  you  in  my 
heart,  Lloyd,  but  it  has  come  to  such  full  flower 
now,  dear,  I  couldn't  hide  it  from  you  long,  even  if 
I  tried.  It  seems  to  me  now  that  all  of  my  life  must 
have  been  a  gradual  growing  up  for  this  one  thing 
—  to  love  you !  "' 

Then  his  face,  glowing  with  an  eager  gladness 
that  almost  transfigured  it,  paled  a  little  before  the 
mute  misery  in  hers, 

"  Oh,  Rob ! "  she  stammered,  finding  it  hard  to 
believe  that  she  had  heard  aright.    "Don't  tell  me 


THE   MIRACLE   OF  BLOSSOMING  283 

that!  I've  always  loved  you  deahly,  but  not  that 
way."  Then  as  she  saw  all  the  light  fade  out  of  his 
eyes  and  his  face  settle  into  grim  stern  lines,  she 
reached  out  both  hands  crying,  "  Oh,  you  deah  old 
Bobby !  I  wouldn't  have  had  it  happen  for  the  world ! 
I  can't  beak  to  hurt  you  this  way!  " 

Her  eyes  filled  and  two  big  tears  splashed  down 
on  the  hands  she  had  thrust  impulsively  into  his. 
With  a  gentleness  that  stirred  her  even  more  than 
his  words  had  done,  he  bent  and  touched  them  with 
his  lips. 

"  Never  mind,  dear,"  he  said  with  a  great  tender- 
ness that  brought  a  sob  up  into  her  throat.  "  Don't 
think  of  it  any  more  if  it  makes  you  unhappy.  If 
you  could  have  loved  me  it  would  have  been  heaven, 
but  as  you  can't  we  won't  talk  about  it  any  more. 
And  —  I  still  have  my  miracle.  Nothing  can 
change  that." 

She  could  not  answer,  the  tears  came  crowding 
so  fast,  and  as  they  walked  back  towards  the  house 
together  all  the  brightness  seemed  to  have  dropped 
out  of  the  April  day.  The  sweetness  of  the  lilies 
still  followed  them,  however,  and  when  she  glanced 
around,  wondering  why,  she  saw  that  Rob  still  held 
the  one  he  had  knelt  to  pick  for  her.    He  twirled  it 


284    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

absently  in  his  fingers,  but  as  they  parted  at  the  steps 
he  held  it  out  to  her  with  a  smile  so  tender  and  full 
of  understanding,  that  another  sob  came  up  in  her 
throat  and  she  took  it  without  a  word. 


CHAPTER    XIV 


THE   ROYAL    MANTLE 


The  week  that  followed  was  an  unhappy  one  for 
Lloyd.  Everywhere  she  went  it  seemed  to  her  that 
lilies-of- the- valley  were  thrust  into  her  face.  On 
the  way  to  town  people  got  on  the  car  at  nearly 
every  station  with  great  bunches  of  them  that  they 
were  carrying  to  offices  or  to  their  friends.  The 
florists'  windows  were  full  of  them.  Men  passed 
her  on  the  street  wearing  them  on  their  coats,  and 
even  the  little  shop-girl,  who  waited  on  her  at  the 
ribbon  counter,  had  them  stuck  in  her  belt.  When 
she  called  at  Mrs.  Bisbee's  there  was  a  box  of  them 
growing  on  her  window-sill,  and  at  home  the  whole 
house  was  permeated  by  the  fragrance  that  floated 
out  from  the  great  crystal  bowl  on  the  library  table. 
She  could  not  get  away  from  them,  and  they  kept 
Rob  constantly  in  her  thoughts. 

She  told  herself  that  she  had  never  known  any- 
thing quite  so  considerate  and  sweet  as  the  way 

285 


286    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

he  had  taken  her  answer.  The  more  she  thought 
of  his  quick  putting  aside  of  self  in  order  that  she 
might  not  be  unhappy,  the  more  it  grieved  her  that 
he  must  be  disappointed.  She  did  not  see  him  again 
until  the  following  Sunday.  He  came  into  church 
behind  the  old  Judge  and  Mrs.  Moore,  and  Lloyd 
dropped  her  eyes  to  her  hymn-book,  her  heart  in 
such  a  flutter  that  it  sent  a  queer  little  tingle  all 
over  her.  She  was  afraid  to  meet  his  glance,  for 
fear  the  consciousness  of  their  last  meeting  would 
send  the  telltale  red  to  her  face. 

In  the  pew  just  behind  the  Moores'  sat  Katie 
Mallard  with  a  girl  from  Frankfort,  who  was  visit- 
ing her,  and  as  Rob  took  his  seat  Lloyd  saw  the 
guest's  pretty  eyes  fixed  inquiringly  on  him.  Then 
she  whispered  something  to  Katie  behind  her  fan. 
Instantly  the  wonder  crossed  Lloyd's  mind  what 
the  newcomer  thought  of  him,  and  then  she  won- 
dered how  he  would  appear  to  her  if  she  could  see 
him  with  the  eyes  of  a  stranger,  without  the  inti- 
mate knowledge  their  long  acquaintance  had  given 
her. 

She  stole  a  glance  in  his  direction,  as  the  or- 
ganist pulled  out  the  stops  and  struck  the  opening 
chords  of  the  voluntary.  He  was  certainly  good 
to  look  at,  and,  she  concluded,  the  veriest  stranger, 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  287 

if  he  were  any  judge  at  all  of  such  things,  must 
see  at  a  glance  that  his  was  a  strong  character,  that 
he  would  scorn  to  do  a  dishonourable  thing  and 
that  the  years  behind  him  were  clean  and  honest. 
Then  with  a  start  she  realized  that  she  had  been 
holding  him  up  to  her  silver  yardstick,  and  that 
he  not  only  met  its  three  requirements,  but  went  far 
beyond.  He  had  family,  social  position,  everything 
that  her  father  had  desired  for  her  save  wealth, 
and  she  remembered  how  earnestly  he  had  added, 
on  that  solemn  watch-night,  "  but  all  these  are 
nothing  when  weighed  in  the  balance  with  the  love 
of  an  honest  man." 

This  greatest  of  all  had  been  given  her,  but  she 
could  not  accept  because  —  well,  she  didn't  know 
why- — but  probably  because  it  was  just  Bobby  who 
had  offered  it,  and  she  couldn't  think  of  him  as 
being  the  one  the  stars  had  destined  for  her  —  a 
boy  that  she  had  made  mud  pies  with.  The  old 
Hildegarde  story  had  been  good  for  her  in  many 
ways,  but  it  had  made  the  prince  of  her  dreams 
a  vague  personality  unlike  any  man  she  had  ever 
met.  She  had  never  put  into  words,  even  to  her- 
self, what  she  expected  him  to  be  like,  but  the  shad- 
owy image  that  her  imagination  sometimes  held 
up  had  no  flaw  like  ordinary  mortals,  no  human 


288    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

faults  and  failings.  And  she  would  know  him 
when  he  came,  in  some  strange,  mysterious  way 
that  needed  no  speech  —  his  coming  would  be  her- 
alded like  Hebe's :  "  Before  her  ran  an  influence 
sweet,  that  bozved  my  heart  like  barley  bending." 

The  congregation  rose  for  the  Gloria  and  her 
eyes  met  Rob's.  For  one  instant  in  the  quick  light- 
ing of  his  face  she  had  a  revelation  of  all  that  his 
"  miracle  of  blossoming "  meant  to  him,  then  he 
flashed  her  a  reassuring  smile  that  seemed  to  say: 
"  Never  mind,  old  chum.  We'll  go  on  just  as  we've 
always  done." 

That  she  had  interpreted  it  aright  Lloyd  knew 
when  he  came  that  afternoon  as  usual  and  pro- 
posed a  walk  over  past  the  Lindsey  Cabin.  He 
seemed  to  have  put  himself  into'  her  place  so  fully 
that  he  understood  just  how  she  felt  towards  him; 
knew  that  it  hurt  her  to  have  to  withhold  the  one 
great  thing  he  desired,  and  that  his  friendship  was 
still  as  dear  to  her  as  ever.  So  with  a  fine  consid- 
eration that  she  was  quick  to  appreciate,  he  came 
back  to  his  old  place  so  naturally,  and  as  such  a 
matter  of  course,  that  it  put  her  at  her  ease  with 
him  and  made  it  possible  for  her  to  ignore  the  epi- 
sode of  the  lilies  as  if  it  had  never  been. 

May  came  with  its  locust  blossoms  and  the  birth' 


THE    ROYAL    MANTLE  289 

day  anniversary  that  made  her  "  old  and  twenty." 
One  of  her  gifts  was  a  beautiful  saddle-horse,  and 
she  began  her  daily  rides  again.  Several  times 
when  Rob  could  arrange  to  leave  town  earlier  than 
usual  he  rode  with  her. 

Early  in  June  Betty  wrote  that  she  was  going  up 
into  the  pine  woods  of  Maine  for  her  vacation. 
She  had  been  offered  a  position  to  teach  an  hour 
a  day  in  a  sort  of  summer  school,  a  girls'  camp, 
and  the  position  had  too  man)^  advantages  to  re- 
fuse. She  would  be  back  in  time  for  a  week  or  ten 
da}rs  at  The  Locusts  before  the  opening  of  the  fall 
term  at  Warwick  Hall.  Lloyd,  who  had  looked 
forward  to  Betty's  companionship  for  the  entire 
summer,  was  sorely  disappointed.  The  same  day 
that  that  letter  came,  Rob  told  her  that  he  was 
going  away  for  awhile.  Some  investments  his 
father  had  made  years  ago  had  turned  out  to  be 
worth  investigating,  and  he  was  sure  he  could  dis- 
pose of  them  advantageously.  At  any  rate  he  was 
going  to  Birmingham  to  try.  He  might  be  back 
in  a  week  or  two,  and  he  might  be  away  the  entire 
month  of  June.  If  Betty  had  been  at  home  prob- 
ably Lloyd  would  not  have  missed  him  at  all,  but 
because  she  had  to  take  so  many  of  her  walks  and 
rides  alone,  he  was  often  in  her  thoughts. 


290    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

" 1  can't  expect  to  have  every  summah  as  gay 
as  last  one  was,"  she  said  to  herself  one  morning-, 
as  she  busied  herself  about  her  room,  changing  the 
arrangement  of  the  pictures.  She  leaned  over  to 
dust  the  ones  above  her  low  bookcase.  They  ran 
in  a  long  panel,  just  above  it,  the  series  of  gar- 
den fancies  that  Leland  Harcourt  had  suggested. 
It  was  on  a  June  morning  like  this  almost  a  year 
ago  that  she  had  posed  for  some  of  them  in  Doc- 
tor Shelby's  old  garden.  It  seemed  at  least  four 
times  as  long  as  that.  She  had  grown  so  much 
older  and  wiser.  She  stooped  to  look  again  at  the 
picture  of  Darby  and  Joan,  under  which  was  writ- 
ten, "  Hand  in  hand  while  our  hair  is  gray."  As 
she  passed  her  duster  lightly  over  the  glass  which 
covered  the  two1  dear  old  faces,  she  remembered  that 
next  week  this  devoted  couple  were  to  celebrate  their 
golden  wedding,  and  that  she  had  promised  to  let 
them  "  borrow  "  her  for  a  whole  week  before,  to 
help  with  the  preparations. 

An  hour  later  she  was  opening  the  gate  that  led 
to  the  old-fashioned  door  where  the  ugly  little  Chi- 
nese idol  still  kept  guard  and  held  it  open.  She 
found  Mrs.  Shelby  out  on  her  cool  upper  piazza, 
behind  the  moon-vines,  in  a  low  sewing  chair.  She 
was  stitching  daintily  away  on  a  bit  of  fine  linen. 


THE   ROYAL    MANTLE  29 1 

"  A  wristband  for  one  of  Richard's  shirts,"  she 
explained,  after  her  first  moments  of  delighted 
greeting.  "  And  I'll  go  right  on  with  it,  for  I'm 
making  him  a  set  all  by  hand  for  my  anniversary 
present  to  him.  He's  always  been  so  proud  of 
my  needlework  and  had  so  much  sentiment  for  the 
things  I've  made  myself.  I  can't  begin  to  tell  you 
how  glad  I  am  to  have  you  here.  I've  been  sitting 
here  all  morning  thinking  that  if  my  little  Alicia 
had  lived  what  an  interest  she  would  have  taken 
in  all  my  preparations.  I  keep  forgetting  that  she 
wouldn't  be  a  young  girl  like  you.  It's  Alicia's 
granddaughter  who  would  have  been  your  age." 

It  took  only  a  question  or  two  to  open  the  gates 
into  this  gentle  old  soul's  happy  yesterdays,  and 
Lloyd  listened  and  questioned,  enjoying  the  quiet 
romance  that  she  gathered  bit  by  bit  as  one  gathers 
the  posies  of  an  old  garden  and  clasps  them  into  a 
full-rounded  nosegay. 

"  Aunt  Alicia,"  she  asked  presently,  "  were  you 
suah  at  the  time  that  you  were  making  no  mistake  ? 
Didn't  you  have  any  doubts  or  misgivings  about 
the  doctah's  being  the  right  one  ?  " 

Mrs.  Shelby  laughed.  "  I  must  confess  that  I 
was  a  very  silly  girl  who  had  read  so  many  senti- 
mental stories  that  my  head  was  full  of  dreams  of 


292    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING, 

some  faultless  being  who  should  appear  like  the 
prince  to  the  Sleeping  Beauty  and  change  the  whole 
world  for  me  with  a  kiss.  It  was  a  long  time  be- 
fore I  could  recognize  him  in  the  disguise  of  a 
poor  country  doctor.  But  I  think  we  are  apt  to  be 
that  way  about  most  things  in  life,  my  dear.  Fa- 
miliarity disguises  the  real  worth  of  most  of  our 
blessings.  We  don't  appreciate  them  till  we  are 
forced  to  miss  them  for  awhile." 

"But  what  finally  showed  you?"  persisted 
Lloyd.  "  What  made  you  see  through  the  dis- 
guise ?  " 

"  Oh,  my  dear,"  laughed  Mrs.  Shelby  again.  "  I 
couldn't  explain  a  thing  like  that!  How  do  these 
moon-flowers  know  what  calls  them  to  open,  or  the 
tide  when  it  is  time  to  rise  ?  They  feel  it,  I  suppose. 
They  just  know!    That  is  the  way  it  was  with  me." 

Lloyd  came  again  next  day  prepared  to  spend 
the  week.  It  would  be  hard  to  tell  who  enjoyed  the 
visit  the  most.  Gentle  Aunt  Alicia  fluttered  around, 
hugging  the  sweet  pretence  to  her  heart  that  for 
this  little  space  at  least  she  had  a  real  own  daughter 
beside  her,  hers  to  call  upon  for  any  service  that 
the  little  Alicia  would  have  gladly  tendered.  The 
old  doctor  spent  ever}'-  moment  he  could  spare  from 
his  office  in  the  spacious  screened  porch  leading 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  293 

from  the  kitchen,  where  all  the  preparations  were 
carried  gaily  forward. 

Here,  after  the  invitations  were  sent,  Lloyd  spent 
her  time.  Under  her  supervision  the  old  satin  wed- 
ding gown  was  brought  out  and  aired  and  pressed 
and  slightly  altered.  Its  white  folds  had  turned 
to  a  mellow  ivory  in  the  years  it  had  been  laid  away, 
just  as  the  sentiment  which  cherished  it  had  grown 
deeper  and  richer  with  time.  Once  as  Lloyd  inter- 
cepted a  glance  the  old  doctor  exchanged  with  his 
wife  as  they  brought  out  these  reminders  of  their 
far-away  bridal,  it  made  her  feel  that  she  was  touch- 
ing with  intimate  fingers  the  heart  of  a  sweet  and 
tender  old  romance. 

From  the  yellowed  pages  of  an  old  diary,  she 
read  a  description  of  the  original  wedding  feast> 
and  with  an  enthusiasm  which  went  ahead  of  Mrs. 
Shelby's  own  prepared  to  copy  it  in  every  detail 
for  the  golden  wedding.  Jellies  and  cakes  and 
salads,  candied  rose-leaves  and  rare  spiced  confec- 
tions that  had  graced  the  first  were  all  reproduced 
for  this  great  occasion.  Lloyd  beat  eggs  and  shelled 
nuts  and  stirred  icing  with  a  zest,  while  she  planned 
the  decorations  and  gave  orders  right  and  left  to 
a  household  who  joyed  to  do  her  bidding. 

It  was  not  until  next  to  the  last  great  day  that 


294    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Mrs.  Shelby  made  the  discovery  they  had  over- 
looked a  certain  gold-cake,  whose  recipe  was  miss- 
ing. "  And  I  don't  suppose  it's  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  Valley,"  she  mourned,  "  unless  they've 
kept  Phronie  Moore's  old  cook-book.  She  was  one 
of  my  bridesmaids,  and  she  made  it  with  her  own 
hands.  It  was  one  of  her  own  special  recipes  that 
she  was  noted  for,  and  I  wouldn't  have  lost  it  for 
anything." 

"  You  know  the  Judge  must  have  kept  it,  Alicia," 
the  old  doctor  gently  insisted.  "  You  know  the 
slightest  thing  she  ever  handled  was  sacred  to  him, 
and  it  stands  to  reason  that  anything  she'd  taken 
so  much  pride  in,  and  written  every  page  with  her 
Dwn  hands,  as  you  say,  would  be  preserved.  No 
doubt  his  daughter-in-law  can  find  it  for  you  with- 
out the  least  trouble." 

"  Even  if  she  could  I  wouldn't  want  to  borrow 
it,"  began  Mrs.  Shelby,  but  Lloyd  interrupted 
briskly.  "  I'll  fix  it  all  right  for  you,  Aunt  Alicia. 
I'll  run  right  ovah  to  Oaklea  as  soon  as  Daphne 
gets  this  in  the  oven,  and  ask  Mrs.  Moore  to  let 
me  copy  the  recipe  for  you." 

So  that  is  how  it  came  about  that  late  that  after- 
noon, Lloyd  opened  the  great  iron  gate  at  Oaklea, 
3itd,  following  the  familiar  path  under  the  g«aat 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  295 

oaks,  reached  the  house  to  which  she  had  long  been 
a  stranger. 

Rob's  dog,  a  fine  Gordon  setter,  came  out  with  a 
boisterous  barking,  but  seeing  who  it  was,  leaped 
up,  licking  her  hands  and  wagging  a  friendly  wel- 
come. It  seemed  as  if  Rob  ought  to  be  somewhere 
near.  Everything  about  the  place  suggested  him. 
A  familiar  wide-brimmed  gray  hat  lay  on  the  hall 
table,  his  riding-whip  beside  it.  Up-stairs  whither 
the  coloured  maid  led  her,  there  were  other  remind- 
ers of  him :  Indian  clubs  and  a  tennis  racquet  in 
a  corner  of  the  hall,  and  a  cabinet  holding  the  vari- 
ous collections  that  had  been  his  fads  from  time 
to  time. 

"  Come  in  here,  dear,"  called  Mrs.  Moore  from 
the  depths  of  a  sleepy  hollow  chair.  "  I'm  too  tired 
to  move,  so  I  knew  you'd  excuse  my  sending  down 
for  you  to  come  up-stairs." 

It  was  Rob's  room  into  which  she  was  ushered. 
Mrs.  Moore  held  out  both  cordial  hands  without 
rising,  and  drew  her  down  for  a  kiss. 

"  Rob's  coming  home  to-night,"  she  explained, 
"  so  of  course  everything  had  to  be  swept  and 
garnished  for  so  grand  an  occasion,  and  I've  nearly 
used  myself  up  making  things  fine  in  his  honour." 

Her  eyes  filled  with  tears.     "  It's  the  first  time 


'2g6    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

he's  been  away  since  the  dear  '  Daddy '  left  us, 
and  I  had  no  idea  four  weeks  could  be  such  an  age. 
I'm  so  excited  and  happy  over  his  coming  that  I 
can  scarcely  talk  about  it  calmly.  But  you  know 
what  a  dear  good  son  my  '  Robin  Adair  '  is  to  me, 
so  you  can  make  allowances  for  a  fond  mother's 
foolishness." 

It  was  some  moments  before  Lloyd  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  known  her  errand,  apologizing  pro- 
fusely for  putting  her  to  any  exertion  when  she 
was  so  tired. 

"  Oh,  it's  no  trouble,"  answered  Mrs.  Moore.  "  I 
think  I  know  right  where  to  put  my  hand  on  the 
book  in  father's  room.  I'll  step  across  the  hall  and 
see." 

Left  to  herself  Lloyd  gave  a  shy  glance  around 
the  room,  remembering  the  time  when  it  had  been 
a  familiar  playground,  but  now  she  had  an  embar- 
rassed sense  of  intruding.  Many  an  hour  she  had 
spent  romping  in  it  while  Mom  Beck  and  Dinah 
gossiped  by  the  fire.  They  had  had  their  menagerie 
and  lions'  den  in  that  curtained  alcove.  Here  on 
2he  hard-wood  floor  between  the  chimney-corner 
and  the  window  they  had  chalked  the  ring  for  their 
marble  games.  She  leaned  over  and  examined  the 
floor  at  her  feet  with  a  smile.    Those  were  undoubt- 


THE    ROYAL    MANTLE  20/ 

edly  the  dents  that  their  top-spinning  had  left. 
Mom  Beck  had  told  them  at  the  time,  no  amount 
of  polishing  could  ever  wipe  out  such  holes. 

The  little  tin  soldiers  that  used  to  stand  guard 
on  the  window-sill  had  given  place  to  other  things 
now.  The  rocking-horse  that  had  carried  them 
such  long  journeys  of  adventure  together  had  been 
stabled  for  years  in  the  attic  at  The  Locusts.  Col- 
lege trophies  and  pennants  hung  on  the  walls.  A 
rifle  and  a  shotgun  stood  in  the  corner  where  a 
wooden  gun  and  a  toy  sword  used  to  stay.  The 
low  table  and  the  picture  books  had  given  place  to 
a  massive  desk  and  rows  on  rows  of  heavy  volumes 
bound  in  leather. 

Then  she  recognized  several  things  belonging  to 
a  later  period.  There  was  the  shaving-paper  case 
she  made  him  the  day  he  bought  his  first  razor. 
She  had  been  so  proud  of  the  monogram  she  burnt 
into  the  leather.  It  looked  decidedly  amateurish  to 
her  now.  On  the  leather  couch  among  its  many 
cushions  was  the  pillow  she  had  embroidered  in 
his  fraternity  colours  and  sent  to  him  while  he  was 
at  college. 

Between  the  front  windows  where  the  desk  stood, 
and  just  above  it,  ran  four  long  rows  of  photo- 
graphs set  in  narrow  panels.     Most  of  them  were 


298    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

group  pictures,  the  first  dating  back  to  the  time  of 
her  first  house-party,  and  ending  with  some  that  had 
been  taken  the  week  of  Eugenia's  wedding.  It  was 
like  a  serial  story  of  all  their  good  times,  and  hastily 
changing  her  seat  she  leaned  her  elbows  on  the 
desk  for  another  look.  But  the  nearer  view  revealed 
something  that  she  had  not  seen  at  the  first  glance. 
She  was  the  central  figure  of  every  group.  It  was 
ker  face  that  one  noticed  first,  laughing  back  from 
every  picture. 

Abashed  at  her  discovery,  she  scuttled  back  to 
her  former  seat,  but  cot  before  her  quick  glance 
had  showed  her  another  photograph  on  the  desk, 
in  a  silver  frame.  It  was  the  last  one  Miss  Marks 
had  taken  of  her,  in  her  commencement  gown.  She 
did  not  know  that  Rob  had  one  of  them.  She  had 
not  given  it  to  him. 

Mrs.  Moore  called  out  something  to  her  from 
across  the  hall,  and  as  she  turned  to  reply  she  faced 
still  another  picture  of  herself,  this  one  in  an  old- 
fashioned  silver  locket  swinging  from  the  side  of  the 
mirror.  It  was  the  Princess  Winsome  with  the 
dove.  She  was  afraid  to  look  any  further.  She  felt 
like  an  eavesdropper,  for  the  very  walls  were  call- 
ing out  to  her  those  words  of  Rob's  that  she  had 
been  trying  for  weeks  to  forget :  "  All  my  life  seems 


THE   ROYAL    MANTLE  299 

to  have  been  a  growing  up  for  this  one  thing  —  to 
love  you !  " 

She  sprang  up. with  the  impulse  to  leave  the  room, 
to  get  away  from  these  telltale  voices  that  she  had 
no  right  to  listen  to.  But  just  then  Mrs.  Moore 
came  back  with  the  book. 

"You  can  copy  it  here  at  the  desk,"  she  said, 
laying  out  a  sheet  of  paper  and  Rob's  big  heavy- 
handled  pen.  She  did  not  sit  down  while  Lloyd 
wrote  the  few  lines,  but  stood  with  her  hand  on  the 
back  of  the  chair  till  she  had  finished.  Then  she 
said  with  an  amused  smile,  "  I  want  to  show  you 
something  funny,  Lloyd.  I  came  across  it  this 
morning  while  I  was  looking  over  some  old  things 
of  Rob's.  It's  your  first  piece  of  needlework.  You 
made  it  over  here  one  rainy  day  under  Mom  Beck's 
instructions.  It's  so  long  ago  I  suppose  you've  for- 
gotten, but  I  remember  that  Rob  tried  to  make  one 
too,  and  stuck  his  fingers  so  often  that  he  cried  and 
gave  it  up,  and  you  gave  him  yours  to  comfort  him." 

Opening  a  box  which  she  brought  from  some 
drawer,  she  took  out  a  sorry  little  pin-cushion.  All 
puckered  and  drawn,  its  long  straggling  stitches 
scarcely  kept  in  place  the  cotton  with  which  it  was 
stuffed.  The  faded  blue  silk  was  streaked  and  dirty 
as  if  it  had  been  used  for  a  foot-ball  at  some  stage 


300    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

of  its  existence,  and  the  pins  that  formed  the 
crooked  letter  L  had  rusted  in  their  places.  But 
that  it  was  accounted  something  precious,  one  could 
see  from  the  way  in  which  it  was  tied  and 'wrapped 
and  carefully  put  away  in  this  box  by  itself. 

It  was  a  relief  to  Lloyd  to  find  that  Mrs.  Moore 
did  not  attach  any  significance  to  the  fact  that  Rob 
thus  treasured  her  old  gift.  She  only  laughed  and 
said  he  was  like  her  in  that  regard.  She  couldn't 
bear  to  throw  away  anything  connected  with  his 
childhood.  Only  that  morning  she  had  come  across 
the  little  blue  shoes  that  he  had  learned  to  walk  in, 
and  nearly  cried  over  them,  they  recalled  so  plainly 
those  happ}^  days. 

"  We  are  both  full  of  sentiment  for  old  things," 
she  continued.  "  I  believe  it  will  hurt  him  nearly 
as  much  as  me  if  we  decide  to  leave  Oaklea  and  try 
to  make  a  home  somewhere  else." 

"  Leave  Oaklea  I  "  repeated  Lloyd  wonderingly. 

"  Yes,  Rob  has  had  such  a  splendid  opening 
offered  him  in  Birmingham  that  he  has  been 
strongly  tempted  to  move  there.  Oh,  I  haven't  told 
you  the  good  news,  have  I !  He  succeeded  in  selling 
that  property  to"  a  big  corporation  that  needed  it  to 
extend  their  manufactories,  and  was  able  to  get  such 
a  fine  figure  for  it  that  now  he  can  give  up  that 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  30 1 

horrid  grind  in  the  hardware  business  and  go  away 
in  the  fall  for  the  last  year  of  his  law  course.  He 
has  studied  so  hard  with  his  grandfather  that  this 
one  year  is  all  that  is  necessary,  and  he  will  be  the 
youngest  lawyer  to  be  admitted  to  the  Louisville 
bar  when  he  gets  through.  His  grandfather  is 
prouder  of  that  possibility  than  anything  else  con- 
nected with  the  boy." 

"  But  about  your  going  away,"  began  Lloyd, 
anxiously,  when  she  had  expressed  proper  interest 
in  the  news.  "  Oaklea  won't  be  the  same  place  with 
strangahs  living  heah.  I  can't  imagine  such  a 
thing." 

"  It  isn't  settled  yet,"  Mrs.  Moore  answered  cheer- 
fully, and  then  rambled  on  to  some  other  topic.  But 
Lloyd  heard  no  word  of  what  she  was  saying.  A 
sudden  panic  had  seized  her  at  the  possibility  of 
Rob's  being  taken  out  of  her  life  for  ever.  The 
bare  thought  gave  her  a  sinking  of  the  heart  and  a 
sense  of  desolation  such  as  a  little  child  might  have 
at  being  left  alone  in  the  dark.  As  she  sat  there 
trying  to  imagine  how  it  would  seem  never  to  see 
him  again,  such  a  revelation  of  her  own  self  came 
to  her  that  it  sent  the  colour  surging  up  in  her  face 
and  set  her  heart  to  fluttering  like  a  startled  bird. 
She  knew  now  for  whom  she  had  been  weaving  all 


302    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

these  years.  This  moment  of  self  insight  had  torn 
away  the  disguise.  Her  Prince  had  come  into  his 
kingdom! 

A  pause  in  Mrs.  Moore's  remarks  brought  the 
embarrassing  knowledge  that  she  had  not  heard  the 
question  whose  reply  was  being  waited  for,  and  she 
started  to  stammer  some  incoherent  excuse,  when 
a  shrill  whistle  from  below  made  them  both  start. 
The  familiar  sound  was  followed  by  a  joyous  bark- 
ing from  the  Gordon  setter,  and  then  Rob's  voice 
called  gaily,  "  Where  are  you,  mother  ?  Six  whole 
hours  ahead  of  time,  just  to  surprise  you !  " 

Mrs.  Moore  sprang  up,  all  her  weariness  for- 
gotten, and  ran  down-stairs  to  meet  him.  Lloyd 
stood  hesitating  in  the  middle  of  the  floor.  She 
didn't  want  to  intrude  on  this  meeting,  yet  she 
couldn't  stay  there  in  his  room,  the  room  that  bab- 
bled his  secrets  and  reflected  him  on  every  side  like 
a  mirror.  Still  hesitating,  then  going  forward  and 
halting  again,  she  reached  the  landing  midway  on 
the  stairs  and  saw  him  standing  with  his  arm 
around  his  mother,  who  had  forgotten  everything 
else  save  the  joy  of  his  return. 

Then  he  glanced  up  and  saw  her  standing  there, 
one  hand  on  the  polished  rail,  and  her  white  dress 
trailing  down  the  steps  behind  her.    And  the  late 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  303 

afternoon  sunshine  stealing  through  the  amber 
medallion  window  above  her  rested  with  such  soft 
touch  on  her  fair  hair  that  it  seemed  that  a  halo  of 
dim  gold  surrounded  her.  For  an  instant  he 
thought  he  must  be  dreaming,  and  stood  gazing  at 
her  with  a  look  of  happy  wonder  as  if  this  were  only 
another  vision  of  the  dream-saint  always  enshrined 
in  his  heart. 

But  his  next  glance  showed  him  that  it  was  Lloyd 
in  reality,  for  at  his  adoring  gaze  she  went  all  rosy 
red,  and  looked  away  in  shy  confusion.  Stopping 
only  for  the  briefest  greeting,  she  hurried  past  him, 
saying  that  Aunt  Alicia  was  waiting,  and  the  won- 
derful cake  wouldn't  be  done  in  time,  that  his 
mother  would  tell  him  about  it,  and  she'd  see  him 
at  the  wedding  to-morrow. 

What  happened  afterward  was  all  a  sort  of 
golden  haze  to  Lloyd.  The  afternoon  of  the  anni- 
versary came  and  went.  She  greeted  the  guests  who 
came  in  a  constant  stream  with  their  gifts  and  good 
wishes.  She  sang  the  old  songs  when  they  asked 
her  to,  she  saw  that  every  one  was  served  to  the 
sumptuous  refreshments  in  the  dining-room;  she 
played  her  role  of  daughter  of  the  house  to  such 
perfection  that  Aunt  Alicia  caught  her  hand 
gratefully  every  time  she  passed,  and  followed  her 


304    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

with  loving*  eyes  as  she  flitted  from  room  to  room. 
She  carried  away  the  impression  that  it  was  all  a 
beautiful  sacred  occasion,  for  the  whole  Valley 
bared  its  heart  for  that  little  space  to  show  its  love 
for  the  good  doctor  who  for  half  a  century  had  been 
its  standby  in  its  times  of  stress  and  anxiety  and 
bitter  bereavement. 

Yet  the  only  moment  that  stood  out  quite  clearly 
was  the  one  when  Rob  passed  down  the  receiving 
line  and  stopped  for  a  word  about  the  perfect  June 
day,  and  how  sweet  the  white-haired  bride  of  fifty 
years  looked  in  her  old-time  satin  gown  and  white 
roses.  Lloyd  had  answered  gaily,  fluttering  her 
fan  and  adjusting  the  slender  bracelet  on  her  arm, 
in  a  careless  way,  but  she  had  not  looked  up  at  him 
in  her  usual  straightforward  fashion. 

The  festivities  were  not  extended  into  the  evening. 
Because  Aunt  Alicia  was  not  strong  the  invita- 
tions were  only  for  the  afternoon,  and  by  sundown 
the  last  guest  had  departed.  Even  Lloyd  went,  say- 
ing merrily  that  she  left  them  to  begin  their  second 
honeymoon,  but  that  she  would  be  back  next  morn- 
ing to  help  put  things  in  order. 

There  was  company  at  The  Locusts  that  night, 
some  business  acquaintances  of  Mr.  Sherman's 
whom  he  had  invited  to  dinner,  and  who  were  in- 


THE   ROYAL    MANTLE  305 

terested  in  nothing  but  statistics  about  the  South 
and  other  like  stupid  things.  Tired  by  the  day's 
exhausting  demands,  Lloyd  left  them  when  they 
went  into  the  drawing-room,  and  stepping  out  on 
the  porch  sat  down  on  the  steps.  The  moon  was 
coming  up,  turning  the  locusts  to  silver. 

Presently  she  heard  the  sound  of  hoof-beats  down 
the  pike,  and  as  she  listened  a  solitary  horseman 
turned  in  at  the  gate.  She  was  not  expecting  Rob, 
but  even  at  that  distance  she  recognized  the  familiar 
slouch  of  his  broad-brimmed  hat  and  the  erect  way 
he  sat  in  the  saddle.  And  she  knew  before  a  word 
was  spoken,  the  moment  he  dismounted  and  stood 
before  her  that  he  had  not  come  for  a  call,  only  to 
bring  some  message.  But  he  did  not  deliver  it  at 
once,  only  asked  who  the  guests  were,  and  sat  down 
beside  her  on  the  steps  and  talked  about  the  trivial 
happenings  of  the  afternoon. 

Then  a  few  minutes  later  she  was  walking  along 
beside  him  under  the  locusts.  The  moonlight  lay 
in  silver  patches  among  the  black  shadows  and  the 
air  was  heavy  with  the  breath  of  roses.  They 
stopped  at  the  old  measuring  tree,  and  Rob  dropped 
the  light  tone  in  which  he  had  been  jesting,  and  his 
face  grew  tense  in  his  deep  earnestness. 

"  It's  no  use  trying  any  longer,  Lloyd,"  he  said 


$Q6    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

abruptly.  "  I  can't  give  you  up.  The  golden  wed- 
ding to-day  was  too  much  for  me."  He  took  a 
step  nearer.  "  Dear,  isn't  there  anything  I  could  do 
to  make  myself  worthier  in  your  sight  ?  In  the  old 
days  knights  could  go  out  and  prove  their  valour 
and  fealty.  Couldn't  you  give  me  some  such 
chance?  Set  me  a  task?  I'd  go  to  the  world's  end 
to  doit!" 

Lloyd  did  not  answer  for  a  moment.  Leaning 
against  the  trunk  of  the  gnarled  locust,  she  stood 
idly  tracing  the  outline  of  the  four-leaf  clover  that 
he  had  cut  beside  the  date  the  last  time  they  meas- 
ured there.     Then  she  said  in  a  low  tone : 

"  Yes,  you  can  bring  me  the  diamond  leaf  that 
we've  talked  about  so  often.  By  that  token  you'd 
prove  that  you  were  not  only  a  true  knight,  but 
that  all  these  yeahs  you've  been  my  prince  in  dis- 
guise. " 

He  smiled  ruefully,  thinking  she  had  purposely 
set  him  a  hopeless  task.  They  had  read  the  legend 
together,  and  he  knew  full  well  that  Abdallah  found 
the  diamond  leaf  of  happiness  only  in  Paradise,  but 
he  took  out  his  watch  and  opened  the  back  of  the 
case,  saying  hopefully,  "  My  lucky  charm  has  never 
failed  me  yet,  how  long  will  you  give  me  to  find 
it?" 


THE   ROYAL   MANTLE  307 

She  held  out  her  hand  for  the  little  talisman,  the 
four-leaf  clover  she  had  given  him  so  many  years 
ago,  but  as  he  picked  it  up,  the  dry  leaves  crumbled 
to  dust  at  his  touch,  and  only  one  fell  unbroken 
into  her  outstretched  palm. 

"  My  good  omen  has  failed  me  when  I  needed  it 
most!  "  he  said  bitterly,  but  Lloyd  answered  shyly, 
"  No,  don't  you  see  ?  This  is  the  fo'th  leaf.  You 
have  brought  me  what  I  asked  for." 

For  an  instant  he  stood  there,  an  incredulous 
joy  dawning  in  his  face,  then  grasping  the  little 
hand  that  closed  over  the  clover,  he  asked  wonder- 
ingly,  "  And  my  unworthy  shoulders  really  fit  your 
royal  mantle  now,  dear  ?    You  are  sure  ?  " 

She  looked  up  at  him  then,  not  a  doubt  in  her 
trusting  face  as  she  slowly  made  answer,  "  Yes, 
Rob,  '  as  the  falcon's  f eathahs  fit  the  falcon ! '  " 

And  then  the  old  locusts,  looking  down  on  the 
ending  of  a  story  that  they  had  watched  from  its 
beginning,  stopped  their  swaying  for  a  space,  with 
a  soft  "  Sh !  "  each  to  each  as  one  lays  finger  on  lip 
in  holy  places. 


CHAPTER   XV 

"  AS  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  IN  THE  STARS  "  AND  BETTY'S 
DIARY 

"  The  lights  are  out  and  gone  are  all  the  guests." 
It  is  very  late,  but  I  must  sit  up  and  write  the  full 
account  of  it  while  it  is  all  fresh  and  clear  in  my 
mind.  Besides  I  am  too  wide  awake  to  sleep  even 
if  I  should  try.  It  was  a  beautiful,  beautiful  wed- 
ding ;  but  I  must  go  back  ever  so  far  if  I  am  to  have 
no  gaps  in  this  record. 

It  is  three  years  now  since  I  went  away  to  War- 
wick Hall  to  teach;  full,  hard  years,  but  so  rich  in 
experiences  and  so  helpful  in  my  work  that  I'd 
gladly  go  on  with  them  if  I  were  not  needed  here 
at  home.  But  they  do  need  me  now  that  Lloyd  is 
married  and  gone,  and  although  she  has  not  gone 
far  and  will  be  in  and  out  every  day,  and  her  room 
is  just  as  she  left  it,  and  her  place  will  always  be 
hers,  still  I  am  the  daughter  of  the  house  in  many 
ways,  and  can  in  a  measure  make  up  to  godmother 

308 


"AS  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  IN   THE  STARS"  309 

and  Papa  Jack  all  they  have  done  for  me.  I  think 
they  do  feel  repaid  to  a  great  extent  by  my  little 
successes  and  the  prospect  of  more  to  follow  by 
and  by.  It  made  me  so  glad  and  proud  when  I 
heard  Papa  Jack  telling  the  doctor  to-day  about  the 
essays  the  Atlantic  had  accepted  of  mine,  and  how 
#  pleased  he  was  over  the  series  of  sketches  that  the 
New  York  publishers  are  going  to  bring  out  in 
book  form  in  time  for  the  holidays.  The  same  pub- 
lishers that  refused  my  poor  old  novel  too. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  that  two  years  and  a 
half  have  gone  by  since  Lloyd  wrote  to  me  of  her 
engagement,  but  it  seemed  a  long  time  to  look  for- 
ward to  then.  Her  father  and  mother  would  not 
have  consented  to  give  her  up  any  sooner  even  if 
Rob  had  been  in  a  position  to  ask  it.  Now  he  has 
been  a  member  of  his  grandfather's  firm  for  a  full 
year,  and  everybody  says  he  is  one  of  the  most 
promising  young  lawyers  ever  admitted  to  the 
Louisville  bar.  He  has  gone  into  his  life  work  as 
he  went  into  all  his  games  —  to  win !  And  he  is  so 
big  and  strong  and  dependable,  I  know  that  god- 
mother and  Papa  Jack  feel  perfectly  safe  in  giving 
Lloyd  up  to  him.  I  think  that  even  the  old  Colonel 
finds  it  a  little  easier  to  be  reconciled  to  the  idea  of 
her  leaving  because  he  is  so  fond  and  proud  of 


3io    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Rob.     But  he  seems  to  take  it  to  heart  more  than 

any  one  else. 

Lloyd  thought  he  did,  too,  and  when  she  first  be- 
gan to  plan  her  wedding  she  asked  her  father  if  he 
would  feel  hurt  if  she  asked  her  grandfather  instead 
of  him  to  go  with  her  to  the  altar  and  give  her  away. 
"  You  know,  Papa  Jack,"  she  said  in  that  saucy  way 
of  hers  that  no  one  about  the  place  can  resist,  "  you 
cut  him  off  from  the  one  chance  he  should  have  had 
to  perform  that  ceremony,  by  running  away  with 
mothah.  So  it's  only  fair  you  should  make  it  up  to 
him  now  by  giving  him  the  honah  of  escorting  me. 
Besides  you  and  she  have  each  othah,  and  he  feels 
so  left  out  and  lonely  and  is  making  such  a  deadly 
serious  affair  of  my  going  away." 

Papa  Jack  saw  it  from  her  point  of  view  and  was 
entirely  willing  to  do  as  she  wished.  When  the  old 
Colonel  found  out  what  Lloyd  wanted,  he  was  so 
touched  and  pleased  and  complimented  that  I  think 
he  must  have  lain  awake  nights  trying  tc  think  of 
things  to  show  his  appreciation.  This  last  week  she 
called  presentation  week,  because  every  single  day 
he  surprised  her  with  some  lovely  present. 

The  first  day  he  gave  her  the  little  silver  sugar- 
bowl  with  butterfly  handles  and  the  cream-pitcher 
shaped  like  a  lily  that  he  had  promised  her  the  first 


"AS  IT  WAS   WRITTEN  IN   THE  STARS"  311 

time  she  had  a  "  pink  party  "  up  in  his  room,  when 
she  was  a  tiny  little  girl.  The  next  day  it  was  a 
purse  full  of  bright  new  gold  pieces,  and  the  next 
a  locket  that  had  been  his  mother's,  all  set  round 
with  sapphires,  and  with  sapphires  strung  at  inter- 
vals on  the  slender  chain  that  held  it.  One  day  the 
gift  was  a  treasure  of  a  rosewood  chair  and  writing- 
desk  that  had  belonged  to  Lloyd's  grandmother 
Amanthis,  with  all  the  little  mother-of-pearl  articles 
that  go  with  a  desk,  just  as  she  had  used  them.  She 
was  too  surprised  for  anything  the  day  he  gave  her 
the  harp.  It  had  been  called  hers  since  she  started 
to  learn  to  play  on  it,  but  she  never  for  a  moment 
supposed  he  would  allow  it  taken  away  from  The 
Locusts.  The  sixth  present  had  no  intrinsic  value, 
but  he  had  treasured  it  for  years,  a  medal  bestowed 
on  one  of  his  Virginia  ancestors  by  the  king,  as  a 
reward  for  his  services  to  the  crown  in  those  early 
days  of  struggle  and  stress  in  the  colonies. 

Then  last  and  best  of  all  in  Lloyd's  eyes  was 
a  splendid  copy  of  the  beautiful  portrait  of  her 
grandmother  Amanthis.  I  cannot  distinguish  it 
from  the  original  that  has  always  hung  over  the 
mantel  in  the  drawing-room.  The  Colonel  had  a 
fine  artist  come  on  from  New  York  to  paint  it,  while 
Lloyd  was  at  the  seashore  this  summer. 


312    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

She  was  so  happy  over  it  and  all  her  heirlooms„ 
She  said  she  didn't  want  her  father  and  mother  to 
give  her  any  new  silver.  They  had  talked  about 
a  full  set.  She  said  there  was  so  much  old  family 
plate  over  at  Oaklea,  which  she  would  far  rather 
use.  So  godmother  gave  her  a  chest  of  linen,  and 
Papa  Jack  some  shares  in  the  Arizona  mines.  She 
has  actually  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  the  thought 
that  she  is  marrying  a  poor  man,  and  has  been  pre- 
paring for  it  all  during  her  engagement  by  keeping 
her  expenses  within  a  certain  limit  instead  of  spend- 
ing in  the  lavish  way  she  has  always  been  accus- 
tomed to.  She's  taken  such  pride  too  in  learning  all 
the  housewifely  arts  that  her  grandmother  and  the 
Judge's  wife  were  so  noted  for. 

Eugenia  and  Stuart  Tremont  came  several  days 
ago,  and  Joyce  came  with  them  to  be  one  of  the 
bridesmaids.  Phil  could  not  leave  his  work  just 
now  long  enough  to  come,  but  he  sent  the  dearest 
little  gift  —  a  cut-glass  honey  dish  and  cover,  with 
a  honey  spoon  to  go  with  it.  The  spoon  is  a  flat 
gold  one  with  a  cluster  of  bees  on  the  handle.  The 
note  he  sent  with  it  was  dear,  too,  thanking  her  so 
beautifully  for  the  inspiration  and  help  her  friend- 
ship had  been  to  him,  and  for  her  good  advice  that 
sent  him  to  "  The  School  of  the  Bees." 


"AS  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  IN   THE  STARS"  313 

Lloyd  was  so  pleased  that  she  hunted  up  a  little 
unset  turquoise  he  had  once  given  her  as  a  friend- 
ship stone,  and  Rob  took  it  to  town  and  had  a 
jeweller  set  it  into  a  tiny  stick-pin  for  her,  and  she 
wore  it  as  the  "  something  blue  "  at  her  wedding. 

Rob  couldn't  afford  to  give  her  an  expensive 
present  like  the  diamond  pendant  that  Raleigh  Clai- 
borne gave  Allison  when  they  were  married  last 
summer,  but  it  pleased  Lloyd  more  than  a  queen's 
tiara  could  have  done.  It  was  just  a  little  clasp  to 
fasten  her  bridal  veil.  He  had  it  made  to  order  — 
only  a  four-leaf  clover,  but  the  fourth  leaf  was 
diamond-set,  because,  like  the  one  Abdallah  found 
in  Paradise,  it  was  the  leaf  of  happiness. 

It  was  just  a  quiet  church  wedding,  as  simple  as 
it  could  possibly  be  made,  in  the  late  afternoon  of 
one  of  the  sweetest,  goldenest  October  days  that 
ever  shone  on  the  Valley.  Only  her  most  intimate 
friends  were  invited  to  the  ceremony,  because  the 
little  stone  church  is  so  small,  but  the  doors  were 
thrown  open  to  everybody  at  the  reception  that 
followed  at  The  Locusts. 

Since  the  church  has  been  frescoed  inside  and 
done  over  in  soft  cool  greens,  it  makes  me  think 
of  the  heart  of  a  deep  beech  woods.  The  light  slips 
in  through  its  narrow  deep-set  windows  just  as  it 


314    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

does  between  the  trees  in  the  dim  forest  •  aisles. 
Lloyd  wouldn't  have  it  filled  with  hothouse  roses. 
She  said  nothing  could  be  as  appropriate  as  the  wild 
flowers  growing  all  around  it  in  the  country  lanes 
and  meadows.  So  there  was  nothing  but  tall  plumes 
of  goldenrod  nodding  in  every  open  window,  while 
the  altar  was  a  bank  of  snowy  asters.  She  wanted 
them  she  said  because  aster  means  star,  and  it  was 
at  the  altar  her  happiness  would  be  written  for  her 
in  the  stars. 

She  said,  too,  that  as  long  as  it  was  in  the  country 
and  she  needn't  think  of  the  conventions  and  could 
have  things  just  as  she  pleased,  she  wanted  it  to  be 
a  white  wedding  —  everybody  in  the  bridal  party 
to  wear  white.  She  said  the  old  Colonel  wouldn't 
look  natural  to  her  in  anything  else  that  time  of  year, 
and  all  the  others  would  appear  to  better  advantage. 
Every  one  said  afterward  what  a  beautiful  picture 
it  made.  Rob  and  Malcolm  and  Keith  and  Ranald 
and  Alex  are  all  handsome  young  fellows  anyhow, 
and  they  looked  bigger  and  handsomer  than  ever  in 
their  immaculate  white  suits.  Malcolm  was  best 
man  and  I  was  maid  of  honour.  Kitty  and  Joyce 
and  Katie  Mallard  were  the  bridesmaids.  We  girls 
carried  armfuls  of  the  starry  asters  and  the  men 
wore  them  as  boutonnieres. 


■-W      ftP*9* 


f"^ 


..-"*"--=' '  ■ 


"'SHE    LOOKED    TO    ME    JUST    LIKE    ONE    OF    HER   OWN 
LILIES.'  " 


"AS  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  IN   THE  STARS"  315 

As  for  Lloyd,  when  she  came  out  of  her  room, 
her  dress  trailing  behind  her  like  a  soft,  pure-white 
cloud,  so  light  and  airy  it  seemed  as  if  it  must  have 
been  woven  on  some  fairy  loom,  and  with  a  great 
cluster  of  lilies-of-the-valley  in  her  hands,  she  looked 
to  me  just  like  one  of  her  own  lilies.  Poor  old 
Mom  Beck,  who  had  dressed  her,  stood  behind  her 
with  the  tears  streaming  down  her  black  face,  say- 
ing, "  Honey,  you  sho'ly  nevah  will  look  moah  like 
a  blessed  angel  when  you  git  through  the  pearly 
gates  than  you  do  this  minute !  " 

From  the  look  on  Rob's  face  as  he  met  her  at 
the  white  starry-crowned  altar,  I  am  sure  he  felt 
that  he  had  already  gone  through  "  the  pearly 
gates."  It  was  all  so  sweet  and  solemn,  and  as  we 
listened  to  the  words,  "  Whom  God  hath  joined  to- 
gether," I  think  we  all  felt  that  heaven's  own  bene- 
diction rested  on  them,  and  would  follow  them  all 
their  way  to  the  "  Land  o'  the  Leal." 

How  the  people  of  the  Valley  poured  in  at  The 
Locusts  afterward  to  wish  them  joy!  Old  and 
young,  rich  and  poor,  white  and  black,  for  of  course 
all  the  old  servants  of  both  families  had  to  come  in 
to  pay  their  respects.  I  am  sure  that  no  more  heart- 
felt good  wishes  were  uttered  than  their  "  God  bless 
you,   Miss  Lloyd,   honey/'   or   "  I   wish   you  joy, 


316   LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

Mistah  Rob,"  as  the  faithful  black  hands  that  had 
served  them  from  babyhood  grasped  theirs  with 
loyal  good-will.  They  seem  to  count  this  year  that 
joins  the  two  old  families  and  estates  as  a  sort  of 
year  of  jubilee. 

It  isn't  often  that  a  wedding  has  everybody's 
approval  as  this  one  has.  Lloyd  has  always  been 
as  much  of  a  favourite  at  Oaklea  as  Rob  is  at  The 
Locusts.  The  Judge  is  radiantly  happy  and  Mrs. 
Moore  has  been  as  sweet  and  considerate  about 
everything  as  if  Lloyd  were  really  her  own  daugh- 
ter. She  wants  Lloyd  to  take  the  place  as  mistress 
of  the  house  just  as  she  did  when  she  went  there 
a  bride.  She  and  Rob's  father  didn't  take  a  wed- 
ding journey,  but  went  straight  home  to>  Oaklea  to 
spend  their  honeymoon,  and  she  was  so  pleased 
when  she  found  that  Lloyd  and  Rob  wanted  to  do 
the  same.  She  and  the  Judge  waited  just  long 
enough  to'  welcome  them  home  to-night,  and  then 
took  the  train  for  Alabama  to  visit  some  of  her 
people.  They  have  long  been  wanting  to  make  the 
trip,  and  so  chose  this  time. 

All  the  details  of  the  supper  were  carried  out  just 
as  they  were  at  Eugenia's  wedding,  excepting  the 
charms.  Lloyd  vowed  she  had  lost  faith  in  them 
since  Mammy  Easter's  fortune  had  failed  to  come 


"AS  IT  WAS  WRITTEN  IN   THE  STARS"  317 

true.  By  rights  Joyce  should  have  been  married 
before  either  Allison  or  herself  because  she  caught 
Eugenia's  bouquet.  But  because  the  girls  still  be- 
lieved in  them  she  did  throw  her  bouquet  from  the 
top  of  the  steps  just  before  she  left,  and  Kitty  caught 
it. 

It  is  only  a  step  over  to  Oaklea,  so  she  went  away 
in  her  bridal  gown  and  veil.  I'll  never  forget  the 
picture  she  made  as  she  stood  there  in  the  moon- 
light, waiting  for  the  carriage  to  drive  up  for  them, 
or  the  adoring  look  in  Rob's  eyes  as  he  turned  to 
lead  her  down  the  steps.  Somehow  it  makes  the 
tears  come  crowding  up  in  such  a  mist  I  can  hardly 
see  to  write. 

And  now  I  have  come  to  the  last  page  of  this 
volume  of  my  Good-times  book.  Dear  Lloyd,  dear 
little  sister  who  was  the  beginning  of  all  my  good 
times,  I  am  glad  that  heaven  has  sent  you  this  happy 
day  for  me  to  chronicle!  What  a  beautiful  Road 
of  the  Loving  Heart  your  girlhood  has  left  in  the 
memory  of  all  your  friends !  What  a  spirit  of  joy 
you  have  been  in  this  old  home,  and  what  an  aching 
void  you  have  left  behind  you !  No  matter  what  the 
years  may  hold  in  store,  you  will  be  a  blessing 
wherever  you  go,  for  you  have  learned  to  keep  tryst 
with  all  that  life  demands  of  you.    And  because  you 


318    LITTLE  COLONEL'S  KNIGHT  COMES  RIDING 

were  true  to  your  Hildegarde  promise  and  wove 
only  according  to  the  silver  yardstick,  I  can  close 
this  record  in  the  same  words  that  end  the  old  story 
we  have  both  loved  so  long :  "  So  with  her  father's 
blessing  light  upon  her,  she  rode  away  beside  the 
prince;  and  ever  after  all  her  life  was  crowned  with 
happiness  as  it  had  been  written  for  her  in  the 
stars! " 


THE  ENR 


Selections  from 

The  Page  Company's 

Books  for  Young  People 


THE  BLUE  BONNET  SERIES 

Each  large  12vno,  cloth  decorative,  illustrated, 
per  volume        ...... 

A  TEXAS  BLUE  BONNET 

By  Caroline  E.  Jacobs. 

"  The  book's  heroine,  Blue  Bonnet,  has  the  very  finest 
kind  of  wholesome,  honest,  lively  girlishness."  —  Chicago 
Inter-Ocean. 

BLUE  BONNET'S  RANCH  PARTY 

By  Caroline  E.  Jacobs  and  Edyth  Ellerbeck  Read, 
"A  healthy,  natural  atmosphere  breathes  from  every 
chapter."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

BLUE  BONNET  IN  BOSTON 

By  Caroline  E.  Jacobs  and  Lela  Horn  Richards. 
"  It  is  bound  to  become  popular  because  of  its  whole- 
someness  and  its  many  human  touches."  —  Boston  Globe. 

BLUE  BONNET  KEEPS  HOUSE 

By  Caroline  E.  Jacobs  and  Lela  Horn  Richards. 
"  It  cannot  fail  to  prove  fascinating  to  girls  in  their 
teens."  —  New  York  Sun. 

BLUE  BONNET  —  DEBUTANTE 

By  Lela  Horn  Richards.  ' 

An  interesting  picture  of  the  unfolding  of  life  for 
Blue  Bonnet. 

BLUE  BONNET  OF  THE  SEVEN  STARS 

By  Lela  Horn  Richards. 

"  The  author's  intimate  detail  and  charm  of  narration' 
gives  the  reader  an  interesting  story  of  the  heroine's  war 
activities,"  —  Pittsburgh  Leader. 


THE  PAGE  COMPANY'S 


ONLY  HENRIETTA 

By  Lela  Horn  Richabds. 

Cloth  decorative,  12mo,  illustrated $1.90 

"  It  is  an  inspiring  story  of  the  unfolding  of  life  for  a 
young  girl — a  story  in  which  there  is  plenty  of  action 
to  hold  interest  and  wealth  of  delicate  sympathy  and 
understanding  that  appeals  to  the  hearts  of  young  and 
old." — Pittsburgh  Leader. 

HENRIETTA'S  INHERITANCE:  A  Sequel  to 

"Only  Henrietta" 

By  Lela  Horn  Richards. 

Cloth  decorative,  12mo,  illustrated    .....    $1.90 

"  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  stories  for  girls  issued 
this  season.  The  life  of  Henrietta  is  made  very  real, 
and  there  is  enough  incident  in  the  narrative  to  balance 
the  delightful  characterization." — Providence  Journal. 

THE  YOUNG  KNIGHT 
By  I.  M.  B.  of  K. 

Cloth  decorative,  12mo,  illustrated $1.75 

The   clash   of   broad-sword   on  buckler,   the   twanging 

of  bow-strings  and  the  cracking  of  spears  splintered  by 

whirling   maces    resound    through    this    stirring    tale    of 

knightly  daring-do, 

THE  YOUNG  CAVALIERS 
By  I.  M.  B.  of  K. 

Cloth  decorative,  12mo,  illustrated $1.75 

"There  have  been  many  scores  of  books  written  about  the 
Charles  Stuarts  of  England,  but  never  a  merrier  and  more 
pathetic  one  than  'The  Young  Cavaliers.'  " — Family  Herald. 

"The  story  moves  quickly,  and  every  page  flashes  a  new 
thrill  before  the  reader,  with  plenty  of  suspense  and  excite- 
ment. There  is  valor,  affection,  romance,  chivalry  and  humor 
in  this  fascinating  tale." — Kajisas  City  Kansan. 
A— 2 


BOOKS  FOR   YOUNG  PEOPLE 


THE  MARJORY-JOE  SERIES 

By  Alice  E.  Allejt 
Each  one  volume,  cloth  decorative,  12mo,  illus- 
trated, per  volume ...     $1.50 

JOE,  THE  CIRCUS  BOY  AND  ROSEMARY 

These  are  two  of  Miss  Allen's  earliest  and  most  suc- 
cessful stories,  combined  in  a  single  volume  to  meet  the 
insistent  demands  from  young  people  for  these  two 
particular  tales. 

THE  MARTIE  TWINS:    Continuing  the  Ad- 
ventures of  Joe,  the  Circus  Boy 

"  The  chief  charm  of  the  story  is  that  it  contains  so 
much  of  human  nature.  It  is  so  real  that  it  touches 
the  heart  strings." — New  York  Standard. 

MARJORY,  THE  CIRCUS  GIRL 

A  sequel  to  "  Joe,  the  Circus  Boy,"  and  "  The  Martie 

Twins." 

MARJORY  AT  THE  WILLOWS 

Continuing  the  story  of  Marjory,  the  Circus  Girl. 

"  Miss  Allen  does  not  write  impossible  stories,  but 
delightfully  pins  her  little  folk  right  down  to  this  life 
of  ours,  in  which  she  ranges  vigorously  and  delight- 
fully."— Boston  Ideas. 

MARJORY'S  HOUSE  PARTY:   Or,  What  Hap- 
pened at  Clover  Patch 

"  Miss  Allen  certainly  knows  how  to  please  the  chil- 
dren and  tells  them  stories  that  never  fail  to  charm." 
— Madison  Courier. 

MARJORY'S  DISCOVERY 

This  new  addition  to  the  popular  MARJORY-JOE 
SERIES  is  as  lovable  and  original  as  any  of  the  other 
creations  of  this  writer  of  charming  stories.  We  get 
little  peeps  at  the  precious  twins,  at  the  healthy  minded 
Joe  and  sweet  Marjory.  There  is  a  bungalow  party, 
which  lasts  the  entire  summer,  in  which  all  of  the 
characters  of  the  previous  MARJORY-JOE  stories 
participate,  and  their  happy  times  are  delightfully  de- 
picted. 
A— 3 


THE  PAGB  COMPANY'S ■ , 

THE   YOUNG  PIONEER   SERIES 

By  Harrison  Adams 

Each    ISmo,    cloth    decorative,    illustrated,    per 
volume $1.65 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  OF  THE  OHIO;     Ob, 

Clearing  the  Wilderness. 

"  Such  books  as  this  are  an  admirable  means  of  stimu- 
lating among  the  young  Americans  of  to-day  interest  in 
the  story  of  their  pioneer  ancestors  and  the  early  days  of 
the  Republic."  —  Boston  Globe. 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  ON  THE  GREAT  LAKES; 

Or,  On  the  Trail  op  the  Iroquois. 

"  The  recital  of  the  daring  deeds  of  the  frontier  ia  uot 
only  interesting  but  instructive  as  well  and  shows  ihe 
Sterling  type  of  character  which  these  days  of  self-reliance 
end  trial  produced."  —  American  Tourist,  Chicago. 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI,' 

Oe,  The  Hokestead  in  the  Wilderness. 
"The  story  is  told  with  spirit,  and  is  full  of  adven* 
ture." — New  York  Sun. 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  OF  THE  MISSOURI; 

Or,  In  the  Country  of  the  Sioux. 

"  Vivid  in  style,  vigorous  in  movement,  full  of  dramatic 
situations,  true  to  historic  perspective,  this  story  is  a 
capital  one  for  boys." — Watchman  Examiner,  New  York 

City. 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  OF  THE  YELLOW' 

STONE 5    Or,  Lost  in  the  Land  of  Wonders. 
"There  is  plenty  of  lively  adventure  and  action  and 
the  story  is  well  told." — Duluth  Herald,  Duluth,  Minn. 

THE  PIONEER  BOYS  OF  THE  COLUMBIA; 

Or,  In  the  Wildekness  of  the  Great  Northwest. 
"  The  story  is  full  of  spirited  action  and  contains  mucfi 
valuable  historical  information." — Boston  Herald. 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUlSu  PEOPLE 


THE  FRIENDLY  TERRACE  SERIES 

By  Harriet  Lttmmis  Smith 
-Each  one  volume,  cloth,  decorative,  12mo,  illus- 
trated, per  volume  91.?$ 

THE  GIRLS   OF  FRIENDLY  TERRACE 

"It  is  a  book  that  cheers,  that  inspires  to  higher 
thinking;  it  knits  hearts;  it  unfolds  neighborhood  plans 
in  a  way  that  makes  one  tingle  to  try  carrying  them 
out,  and  most  of  all  it  proves  that  in  daily  life,  threads 
of  wonderful  issues  are  being  woven  in  with  what 
appears  the  most  ordinary  of  material,  but  which  in 
the  end  brings  results  stranger  than  the  most  thrilling 
fiction." — Belle  Kellogg  Towne  in  The  Young  People's 
Weekly,  Chicago. 

PEGGY   RAYMOND'S   VACATION 

"It  is  a  clean,  wholesome,  hearty  story,  well  told 
and  full  of  incident.  It  carries  one  through  experiences 
that  hearten  and  brighten  the  day." — Utica,  N.  Y ., 
Observer. 

PEGGY   RAYMOND'S    SCHOOL   DAYS 

"  It  is  a  bright,  entertaining  story,  with  happy  girls, 
good  times,  natural  development,  and  a  gentle  earnest- 
ness of  general  tone." — The  Christian,  Register,  Boston. 

THE  FRIENDLY  TERRACE  QUARTETTE 

"The  story  is  told  in  easy  and  entertaining  style 
and  is  a  most  delightful  narrative,  especially  for  young 
people.  It  will  also  make  the  older  readers  feel  younger, 
for  while  reading  it  they  will  surely  live  again  in  the 
days  of  their  youth." — Troy  Budget. 

PEGGY  RAYMOND'S  WAY 

"  The  author  has  again  produced  a  story  that  is 
replete  with'  wholesome  incidents  and  makes  Peggy 
more  lovable  than  ever  as  a  companion  and  leader." 
— World  of  Books. 

"It  possesses  a  plot  of  much  merit  and  through  its 
324   pages  it  weaves   a  tale   of   love   and   of   adventure 
which  ranks  it  among  the  best  books  for  girls." — Cohoes 
American. 
A— 5 


THE  PAGE  COMPANY'S 


FAMOUS  LEADERS  SERIES 

By  Chaeles  H.  L.  Johnston 
Each  large  12mo,  cloth  decorative,  illustrated, 
per  volume        ....... 

FAMOUS  CAVALRY  LEADERS 

"  More  of  such  books  should  be  written,  books  that 
acquaint  young  readers  with  historical  personages  in  a 
pleasant,  informal  way."  —  New  York  Sun. 

FAMOUS  INDIAN  CHIEFS 

"  Mr.  Johnston  has  done  faithful  work  in  this  volume, 
and  his  relation  of  battles,  sieges  and  struggles  of  these 
famous  Indians  with  the  whites  for  the  possession  of 
America  is  a  worthy  addition  to  United  States  History." 
—  New  York  Marine  Journal. 

FAMOUS  SCOUTS 

"  It  is  the  kind  of  a  book  that  will  have  a  great  fascina- 
tion for  boys  and  young  men."  —  New  London  Day. 

FAMOUS  PRIVATEERSMEN  AND  ADVEN- 
TURERS OF  THE  SEA 

"  The  tales  are  more  than  merely  interesting;  they  are 
entrancing,  stirring  the  blood  with  thrilling  force."  — 
Pittsburgh  Post. 

FAMOUS  FRONTIERSMEN  AND  HEROES  OF 
THE  BORDER 

"  The  accounts  are  not  only  authentic,  but  distinctly 
readable,  making  a  book  of  wide  appeal  to  all  who  love 
the  history  of  actual  adventure."  —  Cleveland  Leader. 

FAMOUS  DISCOVERERS  AND  EXPLORERS 
OF  AMERICA 

"  The  book  is  an  epitome  of  some  of  the  wildest  and 
bravest  adventures  of  which  the  world  has  known."  — 
Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle. 

FAMOUS  GENERALS  OF  THE  GREAT  WAR 

Who  Led  the  United  States  and  Her  Allies  to  a  Glo- 
rious Victory. 

"The  pages  of  this  book  have  the  charm  of  romance 
without  its  unreality.     The  book  illuminates,  with  life- 
like portraits,  the  history  of  the  World  War."  —  Roche* 
ter  Post  Express. 
.4—6 


BOOKS  FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE 


FAMOUS   LEADERS  SERIES  (Con.) 

By  Edwin  Wildman 

FAMOUS  LEADERS  OF  INDUSTRY.— First 
Series 

"Are  these  stories  interesting?  Let  a  boy  read  them;  and 
tell  you." — Boston  Transcript. 

FAMOUS  LEADERS  OF  INDUSTRY.— Second 
Series 

"As  fascinating  as  fiction  are  these  biographies,  which  em- 
phasize their  humble  beginning  and  drive  home  the  truth  that 
just  as  every  soldier  of  Napoleon  carried  a  marshal's  baton  in 
his  knapsack,  so  every  American  youngster  carries  potential 
success  under  his  hat." — New  York  World. 

THE  FOUNDERS  OF  AMERICA  (Lives  of  Great 
Americans  from  the  Revolution  to  the  Monroe 
Doctrine) 

"How  can  one  become  acquainted  v,rith  the  histories  of  some 
of  the  famous  men  of  the  United  States?  Avery  good  way  is  to 
read  'The  Founders  of  America,'  by  Edwin  Wildman,  wherein 
the  life  stories  of  fifteen  men  who  founded  our  country  are 
told."— New  York  Post. 

FAMOUS  LEADERS  OF  CHARACTER  (Lives  of 
Great  Americans  from  the  Civil  War  to  Today) 

"An  informing,  interesting  and  inspiring  book  for  boys." — 
Presbyterian  Banner. 

".  .  .  Is  a  book  that  should  be  read  by  every  boy  in  the 
whole  country.  .  .  ." — Atlanta  Constitution. 

FAMOUS  AMERICAN  NAVAL  OFFICERS 
Y/ith  a  complete  index. 

By  Charles  Lee  Lewis 
Professor,  United  States  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis 
"Professor  Lewis  does  not  make  the  mistake  of  bringing  to- 
gether simply  a  collection  of  biographical  sketches.  In  con- 
nection with  the  life  of  John  Paul  Jones,  Stephen  Decatur, 
and  other  famous  naval  officers,  he  groups  the  events  of  the 
period  in  which  the  officer  distinguished  himself,  and  combines 
the  whole  into  a  colorful  and  stirring  narrative." — Boston 
Herald. 
A— 7 


THE  PAGE  COMPANY'S 


STORIES  BY  EVALEEN  STEIN 

Each,  one  volume,  eloth  decorative,  12mo,  illustrated, 
with  a  jacket  in  color      $1.65 

THE  CHRISTMAS  PORRINGER 

This  story  happened  many  hundreds  of  years  ago  in  the 
quaint  Flemish  city  of  Bruges  and  concerns  a  little  girl  named 
Karen,  who  worked  at  lace-making  with  her  aged  grand- 
mother. 

GABRIEL  AND  THE  HOUR  BOOK 

"No  works  in  juvenile  fiction  contain  so  many  of  the  ele- 
ments that  stir  the  hearts  of  children  and  grown-ups  as  well  as 
do  the  stories  so  admirably  told  by  this  author." — Louisville 
Daily  Courier. 

A  LITTLE  SHEPHERD  OF  PROVENCE 

"The  story  should  be  one  of  the  influences  in  the  life  of  every 
child  to  whom  good  stories  can  be  made  to  appeal." — Public 
Ledger. 

THE  LITTLE  COUNT  OF  NORMANDY 

"This  touching  and  pleasing  story  is  told  with  a  wealth  of 
interest  coupled  with  enlivening  descriptions  of  the  country 
where  its  scenes  are  laid  and  of  the  people  thereof ." — Wilming- 
ton Every  Evening. 

WHEN  FAIRIES  WERE  FRIENDLY 

"The  stories  are  music  in  prose — they  are  like  pearls  on  a 
chain  of  gold — each  word  seems  exactly  the  right  word  in  the 
right  place;  the  stories  sing  themselves  out,  they  are  so  beauti» 
fully  expressed." — The  Lafayette  Leader. 

PEPIN:  A  Tale  of  Twelfth  Night 

"This  retelling  of  an  old  Twelfth  Night  romance  is  a  creation 
almost  as  perfect  as  her  'Christmas  Porringer.'  " — Lexington 
Herald. 
A— 8 


BOORS  FOB   YOUNG  PEOPLE 

THE  HADLEY  HALL  SERIES 

By  Louise  M.  Breitenbach 
Each  large  12mo,  cloth  decorative,  illustrated, 
per  volume        .......     §1.65 

ALMA  AT  HADLEY  HALL 

"  The  author  is  to  be  congratulated  on  having  written 
such  an  appealing  book  for  girls."  —  Detroit  Free  Press. 

ALMA'S  SOPHOMORE  YEAR 

"  It  cannot  fail  to  appeal  to  the  lovers  of  good  things 
in  girls'  books."  —  Boston  Herald. 

ALMA'S  JUNIOR  YEAR 

"The  diverse  characters  in  the  boarding-school  are 
strongly  drawn,  the  incidents  are  well  developed  and  the 
action  is  never  dull."  —  The  Boston  Herald. 

ALMA'S  SENIOR  YEAR 

"  A  healthy,  natural  atmosphere  breathes  from  every 
chapter."  —  Boston  Transcript. 


DOCTOR'S  LITTLE  GIRL  SERIES 

By  Mahiox  Ames  Taggart 
Each  large  12mo,  cloth,  illustrated,  per  volume,    $1.75 

THE   DOCTOR'S  LITTLE   GIRL 

"  A  charming  story  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  life 
of  a  dear  little  maid." — The  Churchman. 

SWEET    NANCY;     The   Further  Adventures  or 

the  Doctor's  Little  Girl. 

"Just  the  sort  of  book  to  amuse,  while  its  influence 
cannot  but  be  elevating." — New  York  Sun. 

NANCY,  THE  DOCTOR'S  LITTLE  PARTNER 

"  The   jtory   is   sweet  and   fascinating,  such   as  many 
girls  of  wholesome  tastes  will  enjoy."; — Springfield  Union. 

NANCY  PORTER'S  OPPORTUNITY 

"  Nancy  shows  throughout  that  she  is  a  splendid  young 
woman,  with  plenty  of  pluck." — Boston  Globe. 

NANCY  AND*  THE  COGGS  TWINS 

"  The  story  is  refreshing," — New  Fork  Sun. 

A— 0 


THE  PAGE  COMPANY'S 


IDEAL  BOOKS  FOR  GIRLS 

Each,  one  volume,  cloth  decorative,  12mo,       .     $1.10 

A  LITTLE  CANDY  BOOK  FOR  A  LITTLE  GIRL 

By  Amy  L.  Waterman. 

"  This  is  a  peculiarly  interesting  little  book,  written  in 
the  simple,  vivacious  style  that  makes  these  little  manuals 
as  delightful  to  read  as  they  are  instructive."  —  Nash- 
ville Tennessean  and  American. 

A  LITTLE  COOK-BOOK  FOR  A  LITTLE  GIRL 

By  Gasoline  French  Benton. 

This  book  explains  how  to  cook  so  simply  that  no  one 
can  fail  to  understand  every  word,  even  a  complete 
novice. 

A   LITTLE   HOUSEKEEPING  BOOK  FOR   A 

LITTLE  GIRL 

By  Caroline  French  Benton. 

A  little  girl,  home  from  school  on  Saturday  mornings, 
finds  out  how  to  make  helpful  use  of  her  spare  time,  ar"\ 
also  how  to  take  proper  pride  and  pleasure  in  good 
housework. 

A  LITTLE  SEWING  BOOK  FOR  A  LITTLE 

GIRL 

By  Louise  Frances  Cornell. 

"  It  is  comprehensive  and  practical,  and  yet  revealingly 
instructive.  It  takes  a  little  girl  who  lives  alone  with 
her  mother,  and  shows  how  her  mother  taught  her  the 
art  of  sewing  in  its  various  branches.  The  illustrations 
aid  materially."  —  Wilmington  Every  Evening. 

A    LITTLE    PRESERVING    BOOK    FOR    A 
LITTLE    GIRL 

By  Amy  L.  Waterman. 

In  simple,  clear  wording,  Mrs.  Waterman  explains 
every  step  of  the  process  of  preserving  or  "canning" 
fruits   and  vegetables. 

A  LITTLE  GARDENING  BOOK  FOR  A  LITTLE 

GIRL 

By  Peter  Martin. 

This  little  volume  is  an  excellent  guide  for  the  young 
rnrdener.    In  addition  to  truck  gardening,  the  book  gives 
valuable   information   on   flowers,   the   planning   of  t&e 
garden,  selection  of  varieties,  etc. 
A  — 10 


